The Zoo
by Mistybow
Summary: A Skynet tower is being built in the east of Australia. A network of children called The Zoo have been notified and have sent out a team of teenagers. Will they make it across the dieing landscape, having to face androids of mass destruction and quarrels amongst themselves? More importantly, will they come back? Rated M in some parts.
1. Chapter 1

I sipped my water nervously, eyeing the other officials at the table. I didn't like being in situations like this, especially after coming back from a patrol and not having enough time to clean myself up.

My best friend, Viper, sat next to me, her name isn't actually Viper but it's her codename since she came here. Her name is Marion Browne; she's been with me all this time I've worked for The Zoo. She had a regular build, had long dark brown hair that seems to always get sun kissed right at the ends. She has playful brown eyes and tanned skin.

She had her feet crossed up on the table and her arms behind her head; she never took anything seriously. The director cleared his throat and everyone went silent, Marie took her feet off the table and placed her hands on the surface.

"I have come to inform you about our new trading country. As you might have heard recently…"

"You mean recently as in four months ago." Viper remarked, cutting him off. For some unknown reason she must always be heard. Small snickers could be heard from around the room, the director shook his head and continued.

"As you might have heard recently, we were going to start trading with India since we got hold of the old army boats. They have finally agreed to our proposition and we will be exchanging goods, food, water and other things." He finished, staring out over us.

"Okay, so we might be seeing poofy dresses or butterflies coming through then won't we? Because we all know how much you love them." Viper retorted, laughter erupted from around the room and I slapped her a high five. She smirked at the furious director and he stormed out of the room, Wolf took his place at the head of the table. With a slight smile on his face, he winked at Marion.

Wolf was our Chief as we called him and, like the rest of us, was only young still. He had a stocky build, dark brown hair and deep green eyes. He could almost remind me of someone out of a book or film, the hero coming to save the day.

As he has done several times out on patrol, protected someone under heavy fire or carried someone back to base with a broken leg. He was fair and would sometimes play along with Marion but when enough was enough, he told her.

"Come on now, get cleaned up. Get a good nights rest for the morning or I'll give you to Rag Doll." He threatened with a soft smile; we pretended to be scared and filed out of the room with Wolf closing the Door behind us.

Viper and I made our way across the metal walkway, the tech rooms laid below us. We circled around and entered the elevator with the rest of the officials. I was never really fond of elevators, for some reason I was friends with someone who loved them, I didn't like the idea of getting stuck. The lack of oxygen, the confined space, just the fact that it isn't natural to be in a small space for a long time with no one around to keep you sane.

We exited our floor, floor 15, it was about five floors from the top but I didn't mind, the view from any level was awful. Since the adults left to evacuate and forgot to bring the poor orphanage children with them, we haven't really known how to clean up properly. With the new addition of the robots, or terminators, we haven't been able to really clean up at all.

"Ya know, there have been rumours that a Skynet tower is being built somewhere near by." Viper whispered in my ear as we made our way to our dorms. I just kept walking and calmly replied.

"That's all they are Viper, rumours. There is nothing that can prove that there's going to be a Skynet tower built here. If there were pictures, then good. If there was a recording, terrific. But I am not going to believe by word of mouth that there is going to be a Skynet tower built here." Viper thought about this for a second and shrugged, we got to our dorm and opened the door.

I was bunking with two other people this year and I'm glad it's these two. I had known one of them since I came back from and undercover workshop for two years; Viper had introduced me to her.

Her codename was Bear, her real name was Rene Mais and she was the mother of our group so to speak. She took care of all of us and made sure we didn't get into trouble. She was the tallest in the group and was quite muscular, hence her codename. She had light brown hair the fell down her shoulders in tight ringlets, she had slightly tanned skin and brown eyes that always have some kind of caring look in them.

The other was Python, or Jade Casey, she was the baby of the family even though she was older than Rene and I. She was constantly picked on by either Viper or me, sometimes even both. We only did it because she reacted so funnily, she didn't take it seriously. She was a little shorter than me and was surprisingly thin for someone who ate so much. She had no fat on her, though she didn't really mind. She had shoulder length mousy brown hair and bright blue eyes.

Python was looking for something, Bear was helping her, tossing pillows around the room, looking under beds and opening chests of drawers. I stood there very confused when I saw Viper look at me with recognition and it hit me. Viper and I had hid Python's doll, she didn't call it a doll she called it a 'one-of-a-kind-special-limited-edition Kingdom Hearts Sora figurine', but we still didn't care about it.

She was going crazy about it, polishing it, moving it out of the sun so the colours won't fade, dusting it, even tucking it in at night. We thought that we should show her that life continued with out her dolls, so we hid it in the tech room. A friend of ours is keeping it safe; we wouldn't let anything bad happen to it just hide it.

Python swung around and glared at us, Bear stood up and came to her side with a questioning look on her face. Viper and I glanced at each other, swung around and bolted down the hall, no one would ever want to face the fury of Python in a bad mood. We heard the sound of pounding feet behind us and sped up until we were flying through the hall.

We skidded to a halt in front of the elevator door, Viper pressed the button to go down and we waited. Catching our breath, we saw Python was getting closer with every breath we took and Bear was right beside her. She looked to be speaking soothing words but Python just ignored her.

The doors swung open and we fell in, pressing the button for the tech room. The doors slid closed just as Python reached us, we could here her banging on the doors then we dropped. I slapped Viper a high five and sat down on the cool elevator floor.

"She really loves that thing doesn't she?" Viper asked, still gasping for air. I chuckled at the thought of her getting married to it, the full-blown wedding with the gown and cake and everything.

"Yeah, maybe she should just marry it." I voiced as I stood up, Viper snickered and nodded.

"And they can run away with each other on a motorbike. They can ride off into the sunset." She said in her best movie narrator voice. We burst out laughing, struggling to stop when the doors open.

Tears were running down our cheeks when we reached our good friend Rose Hunter, codenamed Red Back. She was tall and muscular like Bear, she could have been in the field like us but she was training to ace her technical course. She had long dark brown hair and brown eyes almost like Viper. She had paler skin though.

I tapped her on the shoulder and she turned around, she smiled when she realised it was just Viper and I. She pulled out a key from her tight bun and bent down, the click of a lock echoed and she handed us the figurine. She winked, tucked the key back in her hair and turned back to her computer.

Viper snatched the doll out of my hands and we ran back to the elevator. We pressed the button and waited, beaming at each other when the doors swung open. Python stared at us with rage flickering in her eyes, then her eyes switched to our hands. She made a grab for it but Viper leaped back and we split, before we did she swiftly pushed the figurine into my hands.

Python was chasing Viper around the computers and switchboard, then Python spotted me with it and turned to me. I was halfway to the elevator when Viper ran straight in front of me; I push the figurine into her chest and sprinted. Since my hands were free I could run faster and boy did I.

I wound my way around the last remaining computers when I saw a figure standing in the doorway of the elevator, it was Bear. Out of pure instinct, I turned sharply and ran towards the stairs with Python right on my heels.

"Keep going!" I heard Viper yell from the other side of the room. I push myself up the stairs to the metal walkway I had walked on not to long ago. I ran around the corner leading to the elevator and pressed the button, though my feet didn't stop. I jumped up on to the railing and swung around a pole.

Python ran straight past and into a wall leaving the elevator door open. Viper was waiting with Bear in a headlock; I sprinted in and pressed the button for our dorm. The doors slid closed and Bear struggled free, holding Viper up against the wall. She struggled but it was no use, Bear was stronger than anyone in The Zoo and Viper knew it.

Suddenly, the elevator jerked side ways and we all lost our footing, we lay sprawled on the floor. Viper jumped up and helped us to our feet, usually when someone went off coarse they went to see the Chief.

We all glanced at each other and stared at the door, scared to find out what was beyond.


	2. Chapter 2

White light filled the elevator for a second, it dimmed and we saw the office. Everything was white, which was quite strange for a place that was meant to be blending into its surroundings but I didn't comment.

All that was in the room was a desk with a computer and four chairs, one on one side and three on the other. We sat down in the chairs and Bear stared at us with dismay, I knew she was disappointed. Wolf walked in with Python at his side; she was scowling at us. Viper still had the doll clutched in her hands, Python snatched it out of her hands and stroked its plastic hair, I still can't believe how much she loves that doll. Wolf sat down behind the desk and Python sat on Bear's lap, Viper and I giggled.

"This is serious, guys." Wolf warned, we settled down and listened.

"Have you heard about the rumours with the Skynet tower?" He asked, he sounded almost on edge and Wolf never sounded on edge. But who wouldn't be scared that a Skynet tower would be built? Skynet is the program running the terminators who roam this land and since them, we haven't had a peaceful night's rest.

We have had to patrol, set up traps, get our own fortress and everything. No one has known how or why they have come about but we know that if there's Skynet, nothing is peaceful.

We nodded in response and Wolf sighed, his eyes were purposefully avoiding ours but for what reason I didn't know.

"Well, I've called you here to tell you that they are true." Python gasped and fell off Bear's lap, all the colour from Viper's face drained and I felt a shiver slide down my spine. We were no longer safe, no one here was and if one was coming there would surely be more.

"Where is it to be built?" Bear said with a quivering voice, she picked Python up off the floor and stared at Wolf.

"It's meant to be built in Division 2 and I know that is a long way away but we are the strongest of all networks." Wolf said, crestfallen. Viper ran her fingers through her hair and stood up, she walked over to the desk and slammed her hands down on the glossy surface.

"What do you impose on doing then, Wolf? We aren't gonna go out there when they are perfectly capable of doing it themselves!" She snapped, I knew she wouldn't let any of us let alone herself go out there and shut it down. Even I knew that, the other networks could handle it, maybe.

Bear pulled Viper away from the desk and I stood by her side, Wolf shook his head and stood up as well. I suddenly had a feeling of dread, he could have called any other elevator but he knew which one we were in. Wolf saw me and a pleading look crossed his face, tears sprung into my eyes and my grip tighten on Viper's wrist.

"I have assigned Tigress as the leader of your search and destroy group. Bear, Python and you will go with as well as four more people of your leaders choice." He said directly and only to Viper, I hated my codename, Tigress, right now.

Viper screamed and tried to make a grab for him, she almost slipped from my grasp, almost. For all I could have cared I could have let her rip him to pieces but I knew he didn't want to deliver this news as much as anyone.

We dragged her back into the elevator with Bear and I at the arms and Python at the legs. She didn't stop until we reached the dorm, by then she was asleep. By the way he told us, we didn't have long. I ran through the people I knew as I tucked Viper in. Python and I slept on the top platform, Viper and Bear were on the bottom. The top platform was directly above Bear and Viper, it was like another floor altogether. We had our own desks, the beds, wardrobes, even a small shelf for our belongings. Underneath was set out exactly the same, then we had our dining part where we got our meals. In the corner was a separate room, our bathroom. There was a sitting area where we would usually just sit and talk, joke around, stuff like that.

Even though it was only 4:37 in the afternoon, Python was out like a light once she flopped down on our bed. I sat at the dining table, staring at nothing in particular.

Bear came and sat down opposite me, her hair bounced around her head. She held out her hand and I took it, I shook my head and finally let the tears run down my face. She rubbed my back and stroked my hair; I was gasping for air yet still felt like I wasn't getting any.

I couldn't believe what Wolf had just done to us; I didn't even know what reason he had for it. Sure there was a fellow network in trouble and it could affect all of us, but our turn to fight should come later not now.

I straighten and Bear looked me right in the eye, she looked concerned. I waved my hand and smiled half-heartedly, she nodded and we let go of each other. She sighed and I sighed, we chuckled then she got up and led me to the sitting area. We sat down on a lounge together and she tilted her head.

"Who do you think you'll chose?" She asked quietly, I shrugged and let the list continue reeling through. I didn't want to choose anyone who I wanted to die, but it would be good to have a few friends. First person I thought of was Red Back; she would be useful and good company.

Second, I thought about a friend in undercover work. Grace Barker, also known as Sparrow, has been here with Viper and I for almost as long as we have. She was the smallest of our friends and, for some reason, has had quite a reputation with the boys here in The Zoo.

Third was Zoe Collins, or Shark, worked in demolition but wasn't her intention. She wanted to be a psychologist, which didn't exactly suit her I thought. She had broad shoulders and long blonde hair, she and Rose had been friends for ages.

I directed Bear to the door and we both walked down the hall together.

"I think I might choose Rose, Red Back I mean, to come on the team. It would be good company and she's an all rounder so she can handle anything." I started, Bear nodded thoughtfully as we reached the elevator. She pushed the button and I told her my next decision.

"I think Grace might come as well because, well, she can help us out if we need to get away from something in particular. Though I don't really like how she acts around boys, especially the ones here." I continued, Bear nodded again with a grin. I remember how she acts around Wolf, every chance she gets to be alone with him she tries to make out with him. Once, he walked past her room and Grace randomly jumped out and dragged him into her bedroom. She blamed it on hormones the next day.

The elevator doors slid open and we stepped inside, the doors slid closed and off we zipped. We didn't even have to press the button.

"Lastly, I think I should get Zoe. She is always there to help and right now I think we need it with this situation." I finished, Bear patted me on the back and smiled, I hoped that I was making the right decisions.

"What about the fourth? You still have one to go." She stated, I realised that she was right I still had to choose one more person. I couldn't decide, I couldn't even think. The doors swung open and for the second time that day I was blinded. Wolf was sitting behind his desk; he turned to us and smiled. We sat in front of him and Bear started listing the people.

"We would like to have, Red Back, Shark and Sparrow." Bear reported confidently, Wolf shuddered when he heard that we wanted Sparrow on our team, I stifled a laugh.

"Well that's alright but I need to know who the fourth one is, you've only picked three." He inquired; I glanced over to Bear who was also thinking of people. Suddenly, I thought of a good friend of ours who could fit the last position.

"Tegan Genrich, Fox, we would like to have her on the team as our last member." I concluded, Wolf smiled and nodded approvingly. Fox was in undercover work as well; her and Sparrow were as thick as thieves. Wolf typed something into his computer and directed us to the elevator door.

"I've called them over for tomorrow, you'll be suited up and leaving in the early morning. I hope you can keep Sparrow away from me this time." He reported, Bear and I giggled, the doors slid open and we entered with a final wave to Wolf. The doors swung closed and off we went, back to our dorm to tell Viper and Python if they were awake.

We came to a stop, the doors open and we almost stumbled out of the elevator. The hallway was surprisingly loud; people were texting and chatting, playing games and I even saw two people making out. But we squeezed through the crowd and got to our dorm.

Before we went in, Bear held up her hand for me to stop and put her ear up to the door. I couldn't hear anything from all the noise so I put my ear up too. There was yelling, and banging, and crashing and something else I couldn't quite identify.

"I don't like the sound of this." I whispered loud enough for Bear to hear over the noise. Bear nodded in agreement and grabbed the handle to our dorm.

"Well, we'll have to find out what it is at some point. We can't stay out here." She replied, she twisted the knob and tugged the door open. As she did, something came flying out of the door and hit the make out couple straight in the face.

Everything went silent except for the noise coming out of our dorm, there was a cry of triumph and I peeked in. Python and Viper were running around our dorm throwing pieces of cake at each other. Python slung a piece right at Viper and it went sailing past her head, right into my face.

Bear gasped and clasped her hands over her mouth, a smile growing on her face. Python stared at me with an open mouth; Viper had a wide grin plastered on her face. I scraped the cake of my face and held it in my hands. With a rebel yell, I charged into the cake-covered room and tossed the cake right at Python's face.

Bear burst out with laughter, Viper and I slapped each other a high five and Python was standing there with a shocked expression on her face. Then with one movement, everyone came storming in with handfuls of cake.

Even Bear was joining in, we were throwing it at anyone and everyone, then they would pelt it back. No one even bothered eating it, just throwing it at the person next to them or the person on the other side of the room.

It felt like minutes but when we finally stopped I looked at the clock and it seemed we had been fighting for about an hour. Everyone went back to their dorms covered in cake, all different kinds. We cleaned up, that took at least another two hours and collapsed onto the chairs in the sitting room.

We were gasping from laughing too much and our ribs ached from getting fired with cake. But when we all looked at each other, we knew we could never have had a better last day celebration. Even if it wasn't meant to be.


	3. Chapter 3

I didn't realise that I had fallen asleep, I think all of us did. I woke up with grey light filling the room; the sweet smell of cake still hung in the air. I stretched my arms and slowly stood up, looking at the scene. Bear had her arms around Python, they were laid out on the ground and Viper was sprawled on an armchair.

I heard a light knock on the door and the sound of hushed voices; I ran my fingers through my hair and staggered to the door. I opened the door and was overjoyed to see the rest of my team standing in front of me.

They beamed at me, I stood aside to let them in and they came quietly. They were whispering indistinctly, they sat down on Viper and Bear's bed still a buzz. I stared at the clock; it read 4:24. I couldn't believe how awake they were for such an early time.

They were bouncing around and banging on walls, Sparrow pulled away from the group and came up beside me. Her dark brown hair was tied up in a tight ponytail and her freckled face displayed a mixture of emotion.

"Why did you choose me?" She asked in her high voice, I smiled and slung my arm around her shoulders.

"How could I have done it with out you?" I replied, I heard a rustle behind me and saw Viper stirring.

"Could have just taken me and ditched these losers." She drawled, everyone went quiet and turned to her. A smile crossed Sparrow's face and she pounced onto Viper, the group on the bed followed and pinned her down.

"Could you alone take down a whole army of terminators? I don't think so!" Sparrow screeched, Shark started tickling Viper while Sparrow, Red Back and Fox held her down. Viper jerked and tugged but no one could escape the hold of these guys.

Viper's laughter echoed off the walls of the dorm, making it seem like there wasn't one person laughing.

Bear's eyes twitched and flung open, Python was also stirring. Bear ducked as Viper's kicking foot came sailing towards her head; Python joined Shark in tickling. Bear softly pulled Python and Shark away to allow Viper to catch her breath.

Viper gasped for air while the rest of us caught up on things like different missions and patrols. Viper finally caught her breath and we headed out of our dorm, still unaware that we were in dirty clothes. We headed down the hall, scuffling mostly came from Viper and Python play fighting.

We reached the elevator and packed ourselves in like sardines, we barely had room to breathe. Viper tapped me on the shoulder and leaned towards me.

"At least Python doesn't take up too much room." She whispered, Python whipped her heads around to us and squinted her eyes. The elevator doors flung open to the hanger where we stored all of our planes and where we were going to be sent off. We cautiously forwarded out and saw Wolf at a station to the left, away from the big doors that let the planes out.

I heard Sparrow gasp next to me and she took off in a full-blown sprint. Arms stretched out and hair whipping out behind her. Python, Viper and I couldn't help but laugh at the scene. Wolf looked up in surprise to see Sparrow coming right at him, he tried to not notice her but in the next second she was latched onto her.

As we walked over to them we could see a bit clearer that Sparrow was trying to kiss him, he was pulling his head away. Finally, he put his hand in her face and pushed her away. His eyes turned to us and he smiled with embarrassment, he had eight matching uniforms in his hands.

"Looks like you have an admirer there Wolf. She can't get enough of you." Viper said with fake enthusiasm. The group giggled as Sparrow picked herself up and brushed herself off, fixing her hair and beaming at Wolf. He didn't take notice and handed each of us our uniforms.

They were simply grey T-shirts with long jeans, black leather boots, brown jacket and a few hair ties. I went and got changed; Red Back was there first and was talking with Wolf. Viper came beside me and joined in with the talk.

"So where will we be dropped of?" Red Back asked tying her long dark brown hair up into a tight ponytail at the side.

"You will be dropped of at the edge of a forest, you'll be in amongst the trees so you'll be hidden." Wolf replied.

"Python will be with her own kind then?" Viper asked, Red Back and I smirked, Viper looked behind her just to be safe. Wolf nodded with a small smile and looked Viper right in the eye, then I saw a flash. I could barely tell what emotion it was but I could have sworn that it was… Love. No, I thought, not now we're going away and who knows who might come back.

How long had he liked her for, would he tell her? I could tell that Viper didn't see it but, that was just sad. Wolf couldn't like anyone, he was hard, fair, happy, had no time for the softer emotions like sadness and love. He had asked me a question so I just grunted for him to repeat it.

"I said, how are you guys feeling?" He repeated patiently, Viper got in before me.

"I think I'll be alright, as long as baby there gets home, I'll be okay." She said pointing a thumb to Python who was just coming out of the toilets, she lifted her head and sent a death stare to Viper. Bear and Shark came out behind her and they came to join us.

I took a good look at my partners; Viper was an expert marksman. Every gun we used, she was the best at, we play a game where you have to dodge bullets and she always hits the target first, second or third time and no more than that. For some reason she always aims for Python, just to annoy her and boy does she do a good job of it.

Python was expert of hand to hand combat, she had a good balance of speed and agility to make her that absolute best of the group. Bear was one of the strongest in our group and was unusually handy with a rifle. She had to be the second best marksman in the group, and a very close second at that.

Shark was the strongest and always had some kind of strength competition with Red Back or Bear. She was the best at wrestling and could take down two terminators with nothing but a bulletproof vest. Red Back was smart and strong, she was the groups best all rounder. She was good at shooting a rifle and always helped us out with pranks on Python.

Fox and Sparrow came out last and I thought about them. Sparrow was the fastest in the group; she could do both sprints and long distance running. She was also handy with a knife though it hasn't come into use yet.

Fox wasn't as smart, strong or fast as the others but if she put her mind to it, she could never be found. She had gone on many recon, data, missions and couldn't be found, she has made many people invisible and could be almost famous for it around here.

We boarded the plane but before I stepped on, Wolf pulled me over to the side to talk to me. He had a sense of dread around him, I tensed and possible conversation ran through my head about what it could be.

"Could you try and bring Viper home?" Wolf interrupted my thoughts and I relaxed, it couldn't be too bad from here. I nodded but he didn't look convinced.

"I would like the others to come home, I'm not sure if I want Sparrow to come back, but you must bring Viper home, okay?" I chuckled when he said he didn't want Sparrow to come back but I nodded again. He sighed and smiled weakly, then his eyes widened as he looked past my shoulder. I heard the sound of thudding footsteps and giggling, I swung around to see Sparrow with her arms stretched out and the group in the plane laughing.

Sparrow had a desperate expression on her face; she didn't see where she was going and tripped over her toe. She landed face first on the hard concrete floor, I ran over to her with Shark and Bear at my sides. We picked her up and started carrying her back to the plane, she started struggling and kicking.

"I promise we will be together, our hearts long for one another's I know it! Good bye, my love!" She screamed as we carried her into the plane and closed the door. We took off as soon as we stepped inside, we strapped Sparrow down in a seat then went to find our own. The good thing about this plane is that you could see everyone because we were always facing each other.

I sat with Viper on one side and Red Back on the other. Viper started the conversation, as she always does.

"So, who brought the snacks?" Everyone groaned and Viper grinned with satisfaction, she always has some way of getting us all talking but she has used this way since the start of time.

"Why do you always have to start something with that?" Python countered, and the conversation began.

"Yeah, you've been saying that all the time." Fox jumped in.

"Nah, since the start of time because she's so old." Python agreed, I smiled at the thought of Viper with a spear hunting dinosaurs.

"Cause she's an old fart like that." Bear voiced, Viper made a loud fart noise and we cracked up in fits of laughter.

"No, I came from the time of the Vikings and stuff." She gasped, Red Back and Shark shook their heads.

"That must be why you smell so bad then." Shark said calmly, Python liked that one.

"Fine then, I came from ninja land." Viper objected, we burst out laughing again.

"That's Japan, Viper." Bear said between gasps, I could barely breath myself.

The thought of losing this lot would kill me if I wasn't laughing so hard.


	4. Chapter 4

A conversation about geography went on for about forty-five minutes, which somehow changed to food. I'd zoned out for what felt like a minute to come back and have no idea what was going on.

"No pizza is the best, especially with pineapple." Sparrow was having a debate about the best type of pizza.

"Nup, I hate pineapple on pizza." Viper said, Python was nodded next to her.

"Yeah, pineapple gives me an itchy mouth." Python agreed, Red Back was waving her hands around.

"Best topping ever would have to be ice cream." She said with a smile, we all made weird noises and Red Back's smile got wider.

"No way, if your special like Red Back here, then you would like a cherry on top." Shark joked, I nodded in agreement.

"No you need to save the cherry for the cake." Python said hurriedly, Viper and I chuckled. Suddenly, the plane jerked upwards and we were all pushed to the back. Our seat belts were holding us in place but only just, I thought about what might be going on right now. I felt like I was in a can being shaken and kicked around.

Then we stopped, a rip sounded through the air and Fox was screaming, her seat belt must have come lose. Her head hit the roof of the plane and she fell to the ground with blood coming from a crack in her head.

I was glad that it wasn't true and just my imagination running away with me, but I still thought I was dreaming when I saw what she was actually doing. She had stopped screaming and was… Floating. Her eyes were darting around the place and she was perfectly still but I could see it as clear as the nose on my face that she was floating.

I then noticed that everyone looked to be weightless, even me. I turned to Viper; she had a look of awe and shock on her face. Python was wrapped around Bear who was asking her to open her eyes. Sparrow was reaching out to Fox, Red Back had her arms up in the air like she was on a ride and Shark was just looking around at everyone like me.

I was so glad that we had the type of plane that could make an escape route into space. I didn't know what was going on out there but if we had to come here it must be bad.

Fox started making her way to Sparrow, she took her hand and Sparrow pulled her back down to her seat. Sparrow took off her seat belt and put around both her and Fox. I saw my hair raise above my head and smoothed it back down, though I knew it wouldn't last long. Apart from Bear I was only thinking one thing, what must go up must come down.

"Hang on!" Bear screamed, and in that second she tightened her grip on Python, I grabbed hold of Viper, Sparrow held Fox down and Red Back snatched Sharks wrist. Then I felt my stomach do a somersault and we went down. It first felt like being sucked into a whirlpool, gradually getting faster. Viper wrapped her arms around mine, we heard Python whimpering over with Bear.

Then, there was a sudden lurch and it felt like we had been dropped from the sky, probably because we were. High pitch screams filled the air; they were coming from Python, Fox and Sparrow.

I could see Bear was going a bit green and Red Back had her mouth open in shock as we dropped like a stone from the sky. Viper was trying hard not to scream and I was barely holding mine in but for some reason, Shark looked the most relaxed out of all of us.

Again the plane began to shake and that's when Viper lost it and screamed, she tightened her grip and closed her eyes. Red Back was hyperventilating beside me, Shark had her eyes wide open and Bear had gone as white as a sheet. I let out a tiny squeak, but that was all I could do.

The plane jerked and I felt something moving on my side of the plane, in the wall. Bear had her eyes wide and Shark was waving her hands, her mouth was moving but I couldn't hear her. She took a deep breath and shouted

"Behind you!" I swung around just as five metal fingers pierced the plane's metal wall right beside my head. Viper screamed even louder and a screech filled the air, from the other side of the wall. My hand fell to my seat belt as I tried to get it undone; I fumbled around until my hands clutched the clip.

Another five finger shot through the wall near Viper's head, I sense of urgency filled me and my hands unclipped the belt. I got to work on Viper's when a bang filled the air and a large dint appeared where my head was just a moment ago.

I unclipped Viper's belt; she stopped screaming and her eyes flung open, just as yet another bang echoed through the plane and the dint got bigger. Bear held out her hand, Viper leaped for it and caught it; Bear pulled her up beside her.

Shark had pulled Red Back up beside her on the other side, suddenly the plane turned on its side. I fell back against the wall, Bear, Python, Fox, Sparrow, Red Back, Shark and Viper were all dangling from their seat belts.

"Guys, I've got the escape latch, should I pull it?" Shark said with one hand still on Red Back's wrist and the other on a red lever. I nodded, but Viper held up her hand and looked me in the eye.

What the escape latch does is it breaks the seat part in two and which ever isn't damaged turns into a plane. The other blows up, never to be seen again and right now I was on the broken side.

Another screech sounded and a bang followed, the metal dint ripped open to reveal a terminators head. It turned to me; a shining head with glowing red eyes stared at me. I edged away from it and waved my hands for Shark to pull the lever, Viper shook her head.

The terminator pulled its head out and a hand came out, waving around and slowly getting closer to me. Viper put out both her arms and a pleading look came across her face, I knew what she wanted me to do.

I took a step towards her and stretched out my arms, I didn't see the arm below me stretch out and grasp my ankle. Our hands locked and the terminator tried dragging me down but Viper held on. Bear stretched out and grabbed my arm just as the terminator's head poked through the hole again.

I looked down just as plane wall gave way, the terminator let go and I pulled myself up just as Shark pulled the lever. Viper and Bear heaved me up just as the glass roof came over and the wings stuck to make our get away plane. We zoomed away, with a final glance back I saw the plane explode into thousands of pieces of metal shrapnel.

I could see the pilot in his get away capsule heading back to base; we continued the way the coordinates were set. Sparrow took the controls; Fox sat in the cockpit next to her. We went to the back, which was a lot smaller with only six seats instead of twelve like the other plane.

I almost fell into my seat and Viper slumped next to me facing the cockpit, Python still hadn't let go of Bear or opened her eyes. Red Back had almost gone back to normal breathing, Bear had regain her colour and I had my voice back.

Bear and Python crawled into a seat next to us in the aisle; Bear was patting Python's head softly and asking her to open her eyes. She slowly opened her eyes and blinked a couple of times, she shakily let go of Bear's arm and put her hands in her lap.

I looked beside me and saw that Viper was already asleep, Red Back and Shark went to the back of the plane. As soon as Red Back sat, she was asleep too. I could see Python drifting off with her head on Bear's shoulder and I could feel my eyes drooping as well.

"Do you think I'll get home?" I heard Python ask Bear on the other side of the aisle. Bear looked almost shocked and I was the same, I had never heard something like that come from Python's mouth before. She had always been light and happy, confident and funny but now she doubts that she'll come home.

"Of course you'll come home, I know you can do it." I whispered, I felt Viper stir next to me.

"Yeah you gotta come home, otherwise I'll commit seppuku in your honour." She drawled, I nodded and smiled. Python sighed and her shoulders relaxed.

"Just promise me if I don't come back, if you do seppuku, you do it in ninja land." She breathed, Viper giggled and nodded before they both went to sleep.

"They grow up so fast." I said to Bear, she stared back at me with a shocked expression before softening and nodding in agreement. My head fell onto Viper's shoulder and I soon joined her in a deep sleep.


	5. Chapter 5

I opened my eyes and the sound of screaming filled my ears, I looked around and saw Bear sitting stiff in her chair. No one else was here and it was dark so I could only just see her shivering outline. I stepped over next to her and her screams died down to whimpers; they still scared me though. She had her eyes closed and when I looked closer at her face, she had dried blood streaked down it.

She had them closed tightly; I didn't know what was going on. I put my hand on her shoulder and she gripped it firmly, tilting her head in my direction.

"Who is it?" She asked with her voice shaking, I brushed a ringlet off her forehead and put my other hand on hers.

"Don't worry, it's just me. You know, Tigress." I replied softly, Bear sighed and relaxed but still didn't open her eyes. I looked around the plane; it looked like we had been in a crash. How could I sleep through that? I mean, yes I am a deep sleeper but I would wake up if we crashed.

"I thought you were dead by the way you weren't moving." Bear squeaked, this scared me even more because Bear would have to be the bravest in the group I had picked. She never lowered her voice this much unless something scared her and it takes a lot to get her scared.

"He left you because he thought you were dead too." She breathed; I shook my head in confusion. Whose he? Do I know him? Was it Wolf she was talking about? She sighed again and slowly opened her eyes; I had to stop myself from crying out at the scene.

I let go of her and backed away a few metres, Bear blinked and reached out for me. Just limply, she looked like a rag doll but her expression showed that she was still human. I couldn't take my eyes off her face. She had her mouth open in a silent plea but her eyes were catching all of my attention.

I now understood why she had blood streaked down her face and why she was scared of me. Some one had sewn buttons on her eyes. Big, round, jet-black ones and you could still see where they had to thread it in. This reminded me of Caroline, a kids movie I used to watch. I didn't think it was that scary, but now I can see it with my own eyes.

I could barely breath at the sight, Bear started grasping around in the air and breathing hard. I couldn't let her suffer like that just because of her eyes so I reached out and she snatched my hand. She sighed and I crawled back over to her side.

A blinding light flashed and I sat up straight, squinting in the bright sunlight. Viper was still breathing normally and I realised that it was just a nightmare. I breathed a sigh of relief and stood up, stretching my arms and legs. I still couldn't shake that hauntingly vivid nightmare from my mind; I couldn't help but look over to Bear.

She was sleeping peacefully with Python still wrapped around her. Red Back and Shark had moved to take Sparrow and Fox's position in the cockpit, they had fallen asleep in the back. I moved up to the cockpit to see Shark asleep next to Red Back who was just about asleep.

I tapped her on the shoulder, she straighten and looked up at me. I motion for her to go to the back; she nodded and left with me in the driver's seat. We were flying over thick jungle and judging by the distance left on the navigational system, we were close to the base.

I was only flying for a few minutes when I saw the base up ahead; I lowered the landing gear and took a deep breath. I wasn't that good at landing planes, I had three pilots in my team and they were all asleep. Viper, Bear and Shark were the best of the best, I was here and I'm easily the worst.

Even Fox could do a better job than I could at landing a plane, and that was saying something. I ran through everything that Viper had taught me when she got her licence. Keep it level, put the landing gear down, keep it straight and don't crash.

"Thank you, Viper who knows all." I said to myself. I kept my eyes on the approaching landing strip and dipped down. I could see small huts and some bigger ones, then beyond was the abandoned city of Brisbane. I dipped lower and could see people going about their daily business; I even saw some people wave. I finally went for the landing and went over what Viper had told me again. Keep it level, put the landing gear down, keep it straight and don't crash. Well I've got the landing gear down, that's a start.

I heard someone stir behind me but didn't bother to look back; I was completely focused on the airstrip. I was hovering over it, and just brushed the ground. Nothing happened so I pushed it a little lower, I felt a slight bump and noticed I was running out of strip.

I remembered I had forgotten one of the things Viper had said to me, put on the brakes. I had kept it level and straight, I had put down the landing gear and I slammed on the brakes. The whole plane jerked backwards and I heard a loud thump in the back of the plane, a soft groan followed it.

We had stopped and I had landed the plane, I felt proud. Annoyed murmurs came from the back and I poked my head through, everyone was awake. But for a split second, when I looked at Bear's eyes they were the same buttons from my dream. I blinked and they were her normal brown eyes again.

I felt a hand fall on my shoulder and Shark stepped out of the cockpit.

"Never again will I trust you to land a plane after I have seen that." She mumbled, nods of agreement came from everyone but I didn't care. All I cared about was that we made it down in one piece. We stepped out of the plane and the networks chief came out to greet us.

"Hello, I'm Iron. We all welcome you here at The Mines, since we have recently been set up we don't have all facilities going but we do have all the ones you will need." A small girl with almost white hair came and said. Everyone took this by surprise; such a young girl coming to us with a greeting like that was strange.

She waved her hand and started walking across the airstrip; we followed her to a big hut. We went in and gasped, the whole hut was filled with weapons. Old school and new school, from the original knives to the big rocket launchers. Everyone's eyes went wide as they took in their surroundings.

"As you can see, we specialise in only the highest grade of weapons and tech. You should feel right at home." Iron said and with that, she left. No one moved or said anything as the hut door closed behind us and the fluorescent lights flickered on. Then Sparrow and Fox took off for the knives and we split. Everyone went in different directions, squealing with excitement and jumping up and down.

I saw a shelf of good hand held guns and started walked towards them, but Python reached them before me. I then turned for the big guns like rocket launchers and rifles but Bear and Shark were already fighting over those so I didn't bother. Viper was at the more complex guns, Fox and Sparrow were already throwing knives in the range and Red Back was looking at some kind of laser gun.

I saw a bare shelf and walked over to it out of pure curiosity. I didn't get why they would just leave one wall completely blank with nothing on it, it was barely even painted.

"Hey put some glasses on, there's nothing there." Viper shouted across the room, everyone turned to look at me and laughed. I felt my face get red and turned back to the wall, curiosity still held me there.

I put my hand on the wall and rubbed it slowly up and down the rough surface. Everyone went quiet and I patted the wall. Everything went black and I heard surprised cries from behind me. Dim lights blinked on in front of me to reveal a big warehouse full of vehicles. I was in heaven, there were jets and quad bikes, Jeeps and hovercrafts.

I turned to show everyone what I had found but there was just a wall, a plain white wall. I shrugged and ran off to the quad bikes, not particularly caring if my friends were here or not. This was my place now and I could do what I liked. I heard pounding and yelling behind the wall but once I reached the bikes, something switched and I couldn't hear it any more.

I hopped on to a big, red and blue striped quad, I pushed the button to start it and it roared to life. A small holograph screen appeared just under my nose, it displayed the area like a radar, object around me were put on there at dots and varied in size depending on their actual size.

I pressed down on the accelerator and zipped off around the warehouse, weaving my way around the other vehicles. The quad bike was going around corners so fast, that I'm hanging on for dear life. I skidded to a stop next to a big SUV type car and turned off the bike.

I circled it and examined it from the outside. It was painted camouflage with good suspensions and a large layer of grip on the tires. I climbed in the cabin and pushed the button to start it, I then realised that everything here had a push button start. It rumbled and I took off, slamming my foot down on the accelerator. I noticed a ramp at the end of the warehouse and swerved around to face it. I was surprised by the amount of grip that I was almost flung out the window.

I revved the engine and stared at the ramp, a smile crossed my face but a voice in my head was yelling at me. I shook my head and moved an inch towards the ramp just to scare myself, it didn't work. I gave myself more of a jolt forward and that got me scared, the voice was till yelling at me and I finally heard what it was saying.

"Don't do it! You won't make it! You're too scared!" That last thing ticked me off and I rocketed towards the ramp. As I raced towards it, something in the mirror caught my eye. It looked like Viper but I could see properly as the object was shrinking too quickly. I heard the buzz of an engine behind me and by instinct I sped up.

"Wait! I didn't mean it like that! Shark, you said that if I said that she wouldn't do it!" The voice screamed, echoing off the walls and that's when it hit me. They got in, my friends got in.

"It's reverse psychology, I thought it would work!" Shark yelled as yet another engine came to life behind me. I could hear two more start up behind me but didn't look behind me.

"What is reverse psychology?" I heard Fox ask behind me. I snickered and swerved away from the ramps, a wall loomed up in front of me. I heard shouts and cries come from behind me but ignored them as I burst through the wall. Bits of wood and metal flew past my face as I launched out into the jungle just behind The Mines.

A smile crossed my face as I slowed to a stop and got out of the cabin, Viper, Shark, Fox and Sparrow all came to a halt in front of me with worried expressions on their faces. I could barely believe what I had just done and I could tell they couldn't either. When Viper looked at my face, she softened and smiled with relief.

"Did ya have fun?" She asked, the other sighed and grinned at each other. I nodded in response and she slung her arm around my shoulder. Bear, Python and Red Back joined us and we walked back out the front of the big hut. Viper stayed at the back of the group with me and raised her eyebrows, I knew she wanted an explanation but I didn't know what for.

"So?" She asked leaning forward a little, I still didn't know what she wanted from me. So I asked what I wanted to know instead.

"Did you really think reverse psychology would work with me when you said that ' I was too scared'?" I retorted, she smiled and nodded, then she paused and shook her head. Only to then shrug her shoulders but I didn't care what the answer was, I just knew now that Shark could never be a psychologist.


	6. Chapter 6

We spent the night in a cabin near the dining hall, which was opposite the weapons hut. We had bunk beds, we went crazy. I don't know why but when you put us in a room full of bunk beds, we didn't act normally. I let everyone call their beds then got mine, I was under Python.

For some reason, both Fox and Sparrow sleep talk and walk. We always wait until they're asleep to fool around with them. We don't know if they're faking, but it's always entertaining to watch. They seem to interact with each other, so we put them in the same room or bed, or in this case level, so we can have some fun with them.

We know from previous events that Sparrow is scared of spiders and if you mention dwarfs then Fox will try to eat you. So the lights went out, yet I don't think anyone could sleep. A conversation started up, so I closed my eyes and listened.

"What do you think is gonna happen tomorrow?" Python asked quietly, I heard Shark stir on the bunk beside me and Red Back sighed above her.

"We're going out to save the country, for our network and every other." Bear replied in front of me, Viper gasped dramatically.

"Oh, such inspiring words from your mouth Bear. I think I might faint." She said, Red Back snickered.

"Yeah well where else are words meant to come from, your butt?" Red Back joined, Viper giggled and I opened my eyes. Red Back, Fox and Python had all turned on torches that filled the room with dim light.

"I don't know where else can they come from? Tigress, do you know?" Viper asked, I was startled by my sudden appearance in this conversation that I simply answered with "I don't know."

"Come on, you're the smart one here. Where else can you talk from?" Fox piped in, I thought about this. I didn't think I was that smart, I thought Bear was surely smarter than me. Or Viper or Python but not me, I was just a tag a long, the back person, the one who just listens, not the one who is labelled as 'the smart one'.

"Well, I guess you can talk telepathically. I don't know how but maybe in the future, they'll develop something." I answered; Viper swung her head down and looked at me. I stared back and everyone went quiet, Viper nodded and swung back up.

"Tigress and I just had a telepathic conversation involving cake." Viper reported, I heard Python whimper above me. Everyone knows how much Python loves cake, she said if she could take anything with her to a deserted island she would take a cake. And her one of a kind limited edition Kingdom Hearts figurine.

"Well I can have cake anytime I want, not just talk about it." Python retorted, Fox snickered.

"Oh yeah, well I can eat a whole cake telepathically and not gain any weight." She teased, everyone giggled including Python.

"But Python needs to gain weight, she's a stick." Viper commented, the giggle rose to laughter but Python stopped.

"I think we discussed this, all her fat goes to her cheeks." Bear jumped in and I nodded in agreement. Python had soft, squishy cheeks that we couldn't help but feel. I know this might sound awkward but they really are soft.

"Fox has soft cheeks too." Python said desperately, I saw Fox raise her hands to her face then quickly put them back down.

"Yeah but squishy here has cheeks like jelly." Viper said, pointing to Python whose face had gone completely red.

"Yeah and she had no muscle." Bear agreed, I laughed and Python's hand came down to whack me in the face. I slapped it away and it disappeared back up top.

"At least she doesn't gain weight." I said quietly, I sat up and swung my legs out of bed but didn't stand up.

"Yeah but she doesn't have a butt, just legs!" Viper shouted across the bunk, gasps could be heard from around the room and everyone went quiet. I stood up and looked at Python, her eyes were set on Viper. Then she leaped and I grabbed her foot. Bear stood up and raced up the ladder to Viper's side.

I made my way up Python's ladder and held her arms as she tried to break free. I held her down and gave a warning glance to Viper who was making silly faces at Python.

"You know, I watched this movie called the Human Centipede and there was this weird evil scientist person and…" Shark shuddered, Python stopped and turned to listen, so did Viper.

"And he got these three girls, right, and he knocked them out. Then he sewed them together." There was a pause and a shiver passed around the room as everyone listened to Shark. Python was wrapped around my arm, her eyes wide as Shark finished.

"He sewed them so the intestine, or something, connected through each person starting at their mouth then connecting to the next person through their butt." Python closed her eyes and put her head on my shoulder. Viper groaned and Sparrow was looking a little green.

"Then when he was caught, he had made a centipede out of twelve or so people." Red Back was hyperventilating, Viper was scared stiff, Python was whimpering on my arm, Bear was hugging Viper, Sparrow had fainted, Fox was silently screaming and Shark was smiling. I was just staring at Shark in awe, I think, because Shark asked what I thought.

"I think it would be a very difficult process, very bloody. But interesting, still wouldn't want to see it though." I commented, Python raised her head and looked at me in shock. Python would have to be the most innocent out of us all, except me. All of the wrong things that Bear, Viper, Shark and the rest discuss, we have no idea what they are talking about. We just ask ourselves how they came to know this when we don't.

"You're very disturbing you know, Shark." Fox said, blowing lightly on Sparrows face. Shark just giggled and nodded, which was even scarier. We switched off the torches and went quiet, saying goodnight to each other as we did. Bear and I went back to our beds; I pulled the covers up to my chin and closed my eyes.

I heard the ruffle of blankets and the slight slap of feet on the floor, I felt some tap me on the shoulder and I moved over. She sat on the edge of my bed and sighed, it was Viper. We always stay up to see Sparrow and Fox go crazy, it's like tradition. She put her head beside mine and lay down.

"You know Wolf likes you." I whispered, she shook her head and softly slapped me on the shoulder.

"He couldn't, he doesn't like anyone." She whispered back confidently, I snorted and she turned to look at me.

"He asked for me to bring you home more than anyone else, he likes you." I retorted quietly, a look of shock crossed her face and she looked away. Viper never had a boyfriend, she didn't think of herself as 'that type of person'.

Coming from my perspective as her best friend, she was just right. Her tanned skin is something that anyone and everyone would kill for. It was naturally tanned since one of her family came from Indonesia. Her long, black, straight hair was always sun kissed right at the ends no matter how short you cut it.

Her brown eyes, they were kind and determined at the same time. She could have so many different emotions in them that it looked like she had a whole library for them. She was slightly shorter than Python and I but her muscle made up for that. She would be perfect for any boy that wanted her.

She huffed and Bear walked to us, she sat down at the foot of the bed. I envy her looks very much. Bear has between tanned and pale skin that was perfect for her. Her hair was dark golden in colour and about shoulder length in tight ringlets, she would put it up in bun or straighten it if she could find her straightener.

Bear's eyes were a dark hazel but not as dark as Viper's, they were always brimming with love and care. She could forgive someone with a good reason as quickly as she had gotten angry on them in the first place. She was about my height with a big build, broad shoulders from playing hockey and a straight back.

"How's it going here?" She asked, being careful not to wake up anyone else. Shark stirred and came to join us, sitting next to Bear.

Shark had long, dark blonde hair that came up to her shoulder blades when she didn't have it in a ponytail. She had misty blue eyes that were always looking for something, a reaction, a sign, an object, a person.

She was easily the tallest person in the group; she was a heads length taller than I was. She had a stocky build with long, muscular legs and big hands; she always won arm wrestles. For some reason she had the most disturbing experiences out of all of us, as you could tell from the discussion about the movie.

"You know, we support you with your relationship." Viper said randomly, I stared at her and saw she was talking to Bear. Shark glanced at Viper and shook her head; Bear looked at Viper and tilted her head.

"With Python? Aren't you, ya know…" Viper trailed off as it all dawn on us, she thought that Bear and Python were in love. Bear looked shocked though the smile on her face told us that she wasn't too serious to get angry.

"Why would you think that? No one stands up to her. She's the one that comes and clings to me, I just help her out." Bear defended, I couldn't believe Viper could think of Bear like that. Bear was way too sensible to do that, anyway she already had someone in her mind that was special to her. Shark clipped Viper on the back of the head and grinned.

A rustle of blanket behind us symbolised the start of a crazy night, then there was a loud bang and a groan. Viper's torch flashed on, she slid out of bed and stood up with me right by her side.

We saw Fox in a tangle of blankets on the floor with Sparrow in the bunk next to her flailing her arms around like she was trying to swim. Shark and I went over to Sparrow while Viper and Bear went to Fox.

Shark and I knelt down beside Sparrow, Shark blew onto Sparrows face and she bared her teeth. I ran my finger softly over her forehead; she snatched my hand and pulled it towards her mouth. I silently screamed for Shark to do something, she just sat there and watched with a smile on her face as Sparrow started gnawing on my fingers.

I could hear Bear and Viper laughing beside me but they weren't to better off, Fox had Viper in a headlock. I ignored Sparrow as she made her way to my hand and started chewing on that.

"Hey Fox, there are gnomes all around you." I whispered, Fox froze for a split second before trying to devour Viper's face. Sparrow let go off my hand and started off her bed, towards Fox. She stumbled off the bed and crawled to Fox's side, she took her arm and softly shook it.

"Fox, Fox, is that you?" She asked in a kind of slurred voice. Fox let go and started trying to eat Sparrow, Viper slid out of their way and we fled to the safety of my bed. We watched as Sparrow whined because Fox was biting her arm, then as they had an awkward slapping fight and finally as they threw insults at each other.

"You suck." Drawled Fox, throwing a slap at Sparrow but missing.

"Yeah, well you suck oranges." Retorted Sparrow drowsily trying to return the slap but just falling flat on her face.

"No, I suck apples. You suck oranges." Fox said clambering back up onto her bed and slipped under the covers.

"You need to peel them first." Sparrow whispered, barely audible because of how little she was moving her mouth. She climbed into her bed and they slowly stopped mumbling and everything went silent.

We sat there, staring at them just in case they started up again. Suddenly, Red Back flung herself off the top bunk and landed with a thunk on the floor in front of us. All of us stifled a laugh then climbed into bed, leaving Red Back on the floor. I sunk into my bed and closed my eyes, snickering at myself as I ran over the bite marks in my hand.

I heard everyone go to sleep, their even breathing and the occasional lashing of Red Back sleeping. I tend to always fall asleep last; I'm the one that silently protects us when the others don't know. I felt a shiver go down my spine as I remembered my dream last night and tried to open my eyes.

I did, my eyes flung open to blinding light. I didn't think it could be mourning yet, and unfortunately I was right. It was yet another nightmare, and nightmares are never a good sign.

The blinding light faded and I found myself tied at the wrists and dangling over a lake, about twenty feet from the surface. My group was on both of my sides and all looked petrified. A whirring sound appeared above our heads and everyone looked up. A pair scissors was heading for the person to the right of me on the end of the line, it was Sparrow.

I couldn't watch as the rope was cut and she went falling into the lake. But that wasn't the worst thing, I opened my eyes and saw a whole swarm of Hydrobots coming towards her. Hydrobots are snake like terminators that inhabit the water, and they had surrounded her. Everyone was shouting things like 'grab my foot' and 'just stay calm' but you could see that Sparrow was panicking.

The Hydrobots were circling her, screeching and snapping their massive metal jaws. When one lurched forward and grabbed her by the neck, then they all jumped. We were screaming for her, for her to fight back and that we will help her soon. But you could here her neck break and then everything just stopped.

Then Bear dropped in and everything sped up again, the Hydrobots left Sparrow bobbing in the water face down and not moving. Viper was next to me and next to drop, she was swinging around frantically and screaming for Bear to swim. The Hydrobots pounced and Viper dropped, she untangled herself and swam beside Bear.

The scissors were coming straight for me but I didn't care, I was watching in horror as the Hydrobots were taking chunks out of my friends. I was screaming Bear's real name when she looked up at us and froze, with one last smile she sunk beneath the water.

The water where she just was went red with blood and I dropped straight into it.


	7. Chapter 7

That night was full of torture; the Hydrobots didn't even notice me, they just went around me and killed off all my friends. Eventually, there was just Red Back and I trying to fight off the last five of them. I was telling her to swim and that I would be right behind her but she didn't listen, she pulled a knife out of her boot and stabbed it in its sensory circuits. One down, four to go.

Then a miracle happened; I felt solid land under my feet. Although it was a bit unstable I could stand and so could Red Back. We ran up and out of the lake on to dry land and just sat, trying to sink in that we might have just been saved.

I was starting to wonder if this was a nightmare at all because it was so vivid and long, it felt so real. I patted my hands on the ground, just to get the feel of something solid but it wasn't. It was like a sponge that still had water in it but felt dry to touch.

I saw Red Back click on her torch and she screamed, I felt like I was going to hurl when I saw this. We were sitting on bodies.

They covered the ground in a thick layer, all either had dried blood on them or had awkwardly bent necks. I tried to calm myself and look for our people when I remembered the soft ground in the lake. I ran to that shallow part and dipped beneath the surface, I felt an arm and grabbed hold.

I couldn't see who it was at first because Red Back was having an all out screaming fit, but when she focused the torch light on her body I could see a thin arm here and a knobby knee there. I knew before I dragged it on to land whom it was, it was Python.

Tears sprung into my eyes as I stared at her face, it was still in a frightened and horrified expression. I didn't think that the dream could get any worse, until a gunshot sounded and Red Back fell down beside me with a bullet in her head.

I sat up screaming and bumped my head on the bunk above, my hand went to my head and I groaned. I layed back down again and opened my eyes just to see Viper leap off her bunk straight down to the floor and come to my side. Her eyes were wild and she had a thick switchblade in her hand.

"Don't worry, Viper. Just a bad dream." I said softly, with a final glance toward the cabin door she flicked the blade back in. She tossed it up onto her bed and sat down at the foot of mine. She gazed at me, obviously wanting to know what could have spooked me so much.

I told her about everything, even about the dream the night before with Bear's button eyes. I told her about the beach of bodies and how I found Python. She shook her head in sympathy and I looked away but was glad that I could tell someone, especially someone like Viper. She could hold her tongue good, even if they threatened her she would never talk.

"Well, I had a weird dream. I had a dream that we were going shopping and-"

"But we've never been shopping." I cut in, Viper just continued without noticing.

"And you guys were ignoring me and you all had boyfriends and I didn't. You especially were being mean to me and you ran off without me." I faked a dramatic gasp and Viper did the same.

"So then I hired a plane and bombed cake on you guys, death by cake!" She declared, I tried to imagine Viper doing this to us. Then I imagined Viper doing it to someone she hates and when Viper hates someone, she does everything it her power to get rid of them. Even if it means bombing them with cake.

Suddenly, Python jumped down and landed beside Red Back who had spent the night on the floor. Python looked at us with her hands on her hips; she looked at Viper then me and then back again.

"I heard someone say cake." She said, you could tell how much she loves cake if she can hear it while she's sleeping. Viper stood up and walked beside Python, she ran her finger up her spine and laughed at Python's reaction. Python hates it when you do that, or squeeze the back of her neck; she looks like a weird caterpillar when you do that. She squirms around and twists away but you can't help laughing.

Sparrow was next to wake up and since Python and Viper were scuffling around now, Sparrow joined in. Bear and Shark woke up at almost the same time then Red Back got rolled over so she woke up as well. Bear and I managed to pull Viper, Python and Sparrow apart long enough for us to shake Fox awake. We kept a firm hold of them as we walked over to the Dining Hall. We were the first ones there and a big buffet breakfast was layed out for us.

There was everything from eggs to pancakes, orange juice to coffee and everything in between. Everyone raced off to grab a plate then pile it high, I was the last one to get there. I had some scrambled eggs with bacon, two waffles and some apple juice. They had found a round table for us to sit at; I sat next to Fox and Shark.

Everyone, except Python, had more than I did. I was the first to finish my breakfast but everyone was close behind. It was such good food that I was tempted to go back for more but we had to leave some for the rest of The Mines.

After breakfast we headed over to the Post Office as they call it here, it's where we are prepared to go out. We are given our weapons and clothes so that we can survive anything. We walk in to find ourselves in a room with three doors that lead off to different areas.

"I think our fearless leader should go first." Viper piped up, everyone nodded in agreement. I shook my head and stood in front of everyone.

"No way, I'm the leader so I need to assess if you are all properly equipped before me. So yes in the long run I am your fearless leader by make you safe before me." I explained, it was a talent of mine that I was able to improvise because I certainly didn't want to go first.

They nodded thoughtfully and looked around at each other. Bear stepped forward and the first door, a metal one, swung open, it looked like an elevator inside. The door swung closed. There was a red light above it for about two seconds and the sound of a strong wind behind it. The red light blinked out and the door swung open again, Bear wasn't there.

One by one they forwarded in until it was only I left, I waited in silence for them to return. Suddenly, the metal door had a green light above it and the windy sound appeared again. The door flung open and Bear stepped out, she ran over to me and I stood up.

"It was so cool! I chose my gun and stuff and they have so many! I gotta go get my gadgets now, okay?" She said motioning to the second door, a plain grey curtain. She strolled over to it and brushed past the curtain. This time, sounds of gears clanking against each other filled the air and a red light appeared above the curtain.

The light blinked off and the sound was gone.

Everyone did the same, talk about which guns they had, what other weapons they got and how they had to go get their gadgets as well. One by one they disappeared again through the curtain and I was left alone to wait for them.

Then, a blue light flooded the room and I closed my eyes. But it was still there, inside my eyes, it was a screen. I kept my eyes closed and watched it zip through codes and numbers until a room appeared. A young girl stepped up to the screen and sneered.

She looked like something out of a movie; one of her eyes had an eye patch in the shape of a spade like on cards. It had diamonds outlining it and they reflected light so that you couldn't help but notice it.

She had a thin black trench coat that went down to her knees with a hood that hung limply behind her head. She had long dark brown hair with blonde tips and two bright purple streaks down the right side of her hair.

Her one eye that you could see was bright green and her skin was tanned like Viper's, they could almost be related if it weren't for the high cheekbones. She had a shirt that went up to her elbows that, from what I could see, had been torn all up the sleeves.

Her belt went twice around her waist and held a beautifully crafted pistol. She had short black shorts and long black boots that if you stretched them up enough you wouldn't know where the shorts ended and boots began.

I could tell by the lump in her left boot that she had a pocket that held a knife or two. I could tell that she would be quite a character without her even speaking. She had an almost crazed look about her already.

"My name is Jaguar, I am the commander of this new Skynet tower." She said with a voice that was regretful and determined, it confused me. Then I replayed what she had just said to me and it dawned on me that she was a former Zoo agent. That must be why she is regretful, but I don't know why she would want to get rid of us.

"I am communicating with you through an eye piece an android of mine had hidden in you. I am demanding that you stand down immediately and that you go back to your network." She said sternly, I smiled coolly and shook my head. Jaguar grimaced and started pacing the room.

"I assume that you want everyone to come back home, correct?" She asked slowly, I nodded quickly in response.

"That you want us to simply go away and leave you in peace, is that right?" She asked again and I gave her the same answer. She walked behind a table and pulled out her pistol.

"I wouldn't be counting on that if I were you." She cooed, almost sweetly if there wasn't that burst of venom at the end of it. She flipped her pistol around her finger a few times and turned her head straight at me, looking me right in the eye.

"Steve! Come here!" She shouted, not taking her eyes of me. A tall, stocky guy ran in with light brown hair that was brushed to the side. He saw my face and looked crestfallen, he ducked his head and shuffled his feet.

"What is the meaning of this?" She said in a frighteningly soft tone, she pointed her pistol towards me and tilted her head.

"I couldn't send enough-" He was cut off by a loud bang as he crumpled to the floor with a bullet straight between his eyes. I shuddered in horror at the sight of him lying dead on the floor. She turned to me and pointed the gun right at my face.

"You're next." She spat, she pulled the trigger and transmission was cut. I opened my eyes and got the eyepieces out of them as soon as Bear came through the door. I crushed them in my hands and sprinkled them onto the floor. Bear just sprinted into the last door, a wooden one, and closed the door. A light shone under the space underneath the door and a squeal came from behind it.

I heard a gun get loaded and a sigh of happiness, the Bear came out beaming like she just had the best Christmas ever. It looked like she did too.

She was wearing long tanned pants with soft leather boots; she had a dark brown T-shirt with green stripes down the sleeves. A light brown jacket with pockets on the sleeves and centre covered her shoulders. But that wasn't all; she had the best looking guns.

She had a massive AK 47 strapped around her shoulder with two or three magazines in her belt. She also had an M16 Assault rifle slung around her back as well as a backpack. She had two stun grenades on her belt also.

She had a headset strapped around her head; she had her curly hair tied up in a bun. She had a GPS watch and her most prized possession, her bear skin knife pouch which stored a ten inch switchblade.

She sighed and walked over beside me, still trying to make her bun tighter. Just as Sparrow came bounding out of the second door. One by one they came out and went back in through the changing door.

Sparrow came out wearing exactly what Bear was, her long dark brown hair was tied up in a ponytail and in her belt she had six throwing knives.

Fox came out in uniform as well; she had two throwing knives and a ray gun akimbo. I was personally scared that she didn't even know how to use a gun and would shoot us all.

Red Back came out with a lightning gun but liked the other name it was called, a Wonder Waffle, I thought it was stupid for such a powerful gun but that wasn't my decision.

Shark had a massive rocket launcher hanging from her shoulder and an AK 74 on the other, she had magazines by the bucketful on her belt yet she didn't look like she was struggling at all.

Python came out with a Cylinder & Slide M2006 hooked on her belt and a big hammer, I looked at her questioningly and she just shrugged.

Then Viper came out, she had UTG L96 AWP Sniper Rifle held in her hands. A few claymore grenades were hooked onto her belt as well but that gun caught my eye first off.

I got everyone in a straight line and circled them, looking for anything that might let us down. That was when I noticed that they all had they're most precious possessions here.

Bear had her bear skin knife pocket, Viper had her viper skin hair tie, Python had her two python eye earrings, Fox had her lucky foxtail sash, Sparrow had her sparrow feathered hair piece, Shark had her shark tooth bracelet and Red Back had her vile of red back venom around her neck hanging on a chain.

I stopped in front of them and smiled proudly, because I was. But I also now knew that they had absolutely no faith in me, I didn't either. They made way for me as I walked to the metal door to choose my guns. I looked back to see them watching me eagerly, I turned back and the metal door swung open to reveal, again, the elevator type room.

I stepped in and the door slid closed behind me, a violent jerk to the right and I was off. Thinking the whole way how many will return from this mission.

* * *

I suggest for this chapter, if you want to, look up the name of these gun just to see what they look like. I tried to get ones that looked really cool!


	8. Chapter 8

It was dark, so dark I could see my hands in front of my own face. It felt like I was going around in circles then switching off to go in more circles. Then I stopped; the doors slid open to reveal a dim, wide hallway. Guns of all kinds lined the walls, no leaving space for even Python to fit into. I stepped out of the elevator and into the hall, the door swung closed and I was left alone.

I looked along the walls, right at the end I could see a small opening where the bullets and magazines must be. I couldn't see any Lightning guns though, and I really wanted one of them. I also wanted a ray gun akimbo, but there wasn't one of those either.

When I looked around again, I realised that there were completely different guns to my team. There was no gun the same, meaning I couldn't get all that I wanted. I first went to find another one of my options that I hoped they had. I scanned the shelves like I was in a store then found its big, bulky figure. A thunder gun, I loved stuff that was out of the ordinary.

A thunder gun shoots out shock waves knocking people back or stunning them altogether. It could do other stuff if you put your mind to it. I lifted it off the shelf then the most bizarre thing happened, it disappeared. Like a hologram, it just fizzed out and I was left standing there like a complete idiot.

Holding this imaginary gun in my hands my mouth was wide open as I put my hands back to my sides. I shut my mouth and continued down the hall when something peculiar caught my eye. I could barely tell what it was because it was so dark but it didn't look like a gun.

It was too long and thin to be one and it had an elastic on it. I picked it up to get a feel for it then it disappeared just like the thunder gun had. But I knew what it was, it was weird to have something so old fashioned in here with all of this high tech stuff.

I walked down the corridor, feeling that two weapons would be enough to get me through this mission.

I stepped into the open space and looked around, I didn't completely know what you would use to load a thunder gun so I left that. I looked for what would go in my second weapon, I didn't know that either because apart from its actual design being old, it was really high tech.

I found something like a canister for the thunder gun and I found three or four strangely shaped containers with what I needed for my other weapon. I also grabbed three throwing knives just in case of anything.

I made my way out of the small room and back down the hallway. I stood in front of the elevator waiting for something to happen when it slid open and I stepped inside. I made the trip back up to the top and jumped out at the room. Everyone was out somewhere, I didn't know where but they certainly weren't here.

I shrugged and poked my head through the curtain that was the next door. It had a single circular platform with nothing but space around it. I leaped onto the platform and a small railing rose up around me, the wall at the back raised to reveal a big space and I mean it is massive. I couldn't see how far it went because there was a thick mist hanging in the air around me.

We suddenly dropped but only four or five feet, my hands gripped the railing as we made our way through the fog. There were twists and turns with the occasional bump, which made it feel almost like a theme park ride. I zoned out because I was getting board of the whole situation and thought about how we were going to get to the Skynet tower.

Then my mind switched to how Jaguar might have implanted the eye receivers in without me knowing. She could have put them in while I was asleep; but that would have meant she had come all the way out here just to put a message in my eyes. Not going to happen any time soon.

But that meant that someone else must have done it, I slapped myself for thinking anyone in my group could have done it. I could trust them with my life, every one of them. That must mean that there's a mole in this network, maybe one of them were one of those new androids that are only used to gain information. They were disguised as humans but I didn't know how Skynet could pull something off like that. Maybe it was just my mind running away with me again.

The platform stopped and the railing disappeared and a back wall slid behind me. I noticed yet another curtain was in front of me and I pushed through it. I emerged in a big, square room with all kinds of gadgets on the walls. There were even grenades; I had to get my hands on those.

I snatched a C4 grenade off the wall, knowing how powerful they were I only grabbed one. Just like the guns, as soon as I touched it, it fizzed out and disappeared. I grabbed a little black box and didn't get enough time to open it as it disappeared instantly.

I lifted a headset off its stand and let it dissolve in my hands before walking back to the curtain. I took a final glance around the room, making sure I had everything I wanted before I left.

I leaped through the curtain and waited as I resurfaced. I eagerly jumped off the platform into the room. It was bare again as I made my way to the last door, the wooden one.

I slipped into it and looked around, it wasn't anything special. It smelled musty and old; the walls were rough and dusty. Then a light shone right at my eyes, a light blue one, then it seemed to scan my body. Going up and down then back up again, but that wasn't it.

A sudden weight came over my shoulders, waist and head. I was still partially blinded by the light but I managed to come out of the room and rub my eyes clear. I looked down at myself and gasped.

I had sleek black gear. Pants, shirt, jacket, boots even the hair tie that held my hair in its long plait down my back was black. My thunder gun was already loaded and the canisters I picked up were in the backpack on my back. I had a strap across my chest that held my three throwing knives and two more canisters.

My belt held the C4 grenade I picked up and my headset my firmly fixed onto my head. Then I remembered my precious possession, I had forgotten about it. It was my Tiger-eye pendant; my hand went to my neck and felt the familiar cool shape of the stone.

Then, Python burst through and froze upon looking at my face. She had a mixture of excitement and determination on her face. I stared back at her with a question in my eyes. Her eyes searched the room then she grabbed a mirror and held it in front of my face.

I was surprised by my change even though it was small. I still had my golden brown hair and slightly tanned skin, but my eyes had completely changed. They had changed from light blue to bright amber, like cat's eyes. Then I remembered the little black box I had picked up through the second door.

They must have had some kind of contacts in them, but they mustn't have just been to make me look like a freak, they must have a purpose. I lowered the mirror and Python put it back, still staring at me. I just blinked and a light flashed in front of me.

I squealed and looked around, extremely confused where the light could have come from and how it could have been so clear when the sun was up and it was about 9 am. I brushed it off and followed Python out to the airstrip, they had picked out a vehicle to go to the heart or city.

Python yelled out to them and everyone turned around, the first one to jump out and ran to me was Sparrow. She was the fastest of the whole group, possibly combined, which was pretty sad considering we were all older than she was.

Sparrow was the shortest of the group as well; she had dark brown hair that was about the same length as mine. She had hazel eyes with freckled skin that suited her perfectly.

She wrapped her arms around me and gazed up at my eyes, she gasped and smiled in surprise. She grabbed my head and pulled me closer to see them properly, I was a bit uncomfortable with her being so close to me.

I pulled away and she ran back to the others who were sitting in the back except for Viper who was in the driver's seat. I threw my bag and gun in the back and went into the cabin and sat in the passenger seat beside Viper.

Just before I closed the door, a boy ran up and held the door open with something in his other hand. He held it up to me and I took it with a polite smile, my second weapon. He stood back and took his hand off the door, I closed it and Viper started the engine.

She glanced at me and turned back to the front, she did a double take and stared at me. I leaned away from her and pressed myself up against the window, she grabbed my face and brought it close to hers. She looked shocked, I pulled away and she gave me a final look before turning to the wheel and putting her foot down on the accelerator.

We zoomed off down the airstrip and I sat back in the seat, relaxing until we reached our destination. Suddenly, Viper swerved hard to the right and a massive explosion appeared right where we just were. I scowled at her and she pointed to the mirrors on the side. I looked in the reflection behind us and gasped.

They were attacking us!

They had a century gun set up and aimed right at us, a bazooka was targeting us from a rooftop of a hut and several people had guns aimed at us. I could here surprised screams from the back and I turned quickly to Viper. I gave her a look that only we knew.

Keep it steady, I was telling her, she nodded and I opened the door. I stuck my head out and reach out for the tray that everyone was sitting in. I swung out and grasped the tray with both hands, pulling up my knees that were only about two inches from the ground. I pulled myself into the tray and stood up, everyone was hanging on to handles that had been bolted into the walls.

I still had my second weapon in my hands; I slipped the quiver onto my back and stared back at people who were aiming at us. I made my way to the edge and pulled an arrow out of the quiver, it had a glowing red tip on it.

"Bear, you got a grenade to spare?" I shouted over the explosion of a rocket being fired. She nodded; then I turned to Python who was as white as a sheet.

"Python, I need you to use your hammer. When Bear throws a grenade up in the air, you must hit it out of here, okay?" She nodded; so did Bear she pulled a grenade out of her belt and threw it up in the air. Python stood up and hit it with all her might which was all I needed. I pulled back the elastic and closed one eye for accuracy.

The lights returned except I could see it more clearly now, everything in my one closed eye was like it would be looking through night vision goggles at night. Everything was outlined in orange light and so sharp.

A target appeared in my eye and searched around in front of me until it found the grenade flying through the air. I pointed my arrow at it and let go of it, I opened my eyes and watched it stick into the grenade before it exploded in a wall of light and fire separating us from the people.

This gave us time to drive away and into the dense jungle that separated us from the heart. I watched the huts and guns disappeared slowly behind us and turned away. Then a spray of bullets came through the trees, hitting trunks and branches. I ducked down on the floor and everyone flatted themselves to the walls.

Just as the last bullets were fired, I heard a faint cry from beside me and raise my head. Shark had a taken a bullet to the arm, she was holding some fabric on it but it was already soaked.

That's when I blacked out.

* * *

Sorry I might have picked a heap of guns from COD but I just asked for help from my friend and she gave me a list. She isn't obsesed either but she just had the idea because her brother had the game. I was desparate for guns.


	9. Chapter 9

I didn't know why I had blacked out at something so small; I can take the sight of blood and hold out pretty well. It wasn't even a big wound that was showing bone or could leave a scar or anything, but either way I had fainted at something.

I had a lot of dreams while I was out but there were only two that I remember clearly and that actually made sense at all. The first was like I was one of the people shooting us, aiming for the truck that was just out of my reach. At first I was having a blast trying to shoot down this enemy but then I began to question why I was doing it. I had no idea.

But then something changed my mind and I saw them as threats, like people who were trying to kill me. It was like I was having a flash back that they had snuck into camp and planted grenades then expected us to treat them like kings. I didn't know why I had thought this all of a sudden but that was where that dream ended.

The second dream was a bit more frightening. It was like I was a complete ghost in this one but I was seeing it from my point of view. I was it that room the Jaguar was in and she had just shot the screen, the transmission was cut and she was all alone with a dead body next to her.

She tucked the pistol back into her belt and turned to the man she called Steve, a pool of red blood had surrounded him and his face had gone white. She crouched down beside him and put her arms around his shoulders. I couldn't understand what was going on in this psychopath's mind but she was smiling at him.

"There there, it's going to be alright." She whispered to him while stroking his hair. She tucked one arm under his head and the other under his legs; she lifted him up and carried him out of the room. I followed them out and into the dark Skynet tower. There was steam being blown from the production of more terminators and searchlights flashed through me as they looked for any sign of human life.

The metal walkways reminded me of the ones at The Zoo except these ones were sturdier since they were outside and connected us to each room. When I looked below us, I could see that they had found an outcast and captured them.

Outcasts are small armies of about thirty people that don't have a network and function by themselves. I personally admire outcasts since they can have members as young as six surviving without the support of another network.

I followed Jaguar silently into a room, which smelled of paint remover and saw a huge glass tank loom in front of me. Jaguar climbed a ladder and stood over the tank, she peered into the strangely luminous blue water and grinned. With a final gaze at Steve she dropped him in.

I woke up gasping and looking around we had finally made it to the heart. I could just see the outline of jungle through the blackness of the night and the shape of our truck just hidden in the trees. Everyone was sleeping around me with their guns close to their chests. I slowed my breathing back to normal and looked around for my weapons.

I still had my C4 and knives strapped to me and the backpack was still on my back, but I couldn't find my bow or thunder gun. I saw them lying next to Viper who had a protective arm over them.

That's one of the advantages with having a best friend that you had known for six years on your team, they would protect anything and everything for you. Another is that you can tell anything to them no matter what mood you were in. I could name one hundred and one advantages but I had to do something, I was freezing.

I did a head count and saw that Shark was missing, the first thing I thought was that she was gone. Never to be seen again, bled to death and sitting somewhere out there in the jungle never to return to The Zoo. I was wrong; I saw her figure sitting on a wall that had been blow apart just a few metres from where we were sitting.

I stood up and quietly walked to her side, she looked up at me and smiled. She moved over and made room for me to sit down, I sat beside her and watched the night sky.

"You know, half of these stars are actually satellites that the adults left up there." I said to her, she looked closer at the sky and shook her head.

"How can you tell which is which?" She asked me, I sighed and pointed to a light in the sky that glinted unlike the rest of them. It sparkled and shimmered unlike the others that just shone, this one was a star.

"It's the dot in the sky that actually sparkles." I said, I could see that Shark could see it so I put my hand down. She looked almost shocked which was a surprise since she didn't show much emotion at all. She usually just puts on a blank face and lets very little emotion through.

"I never knew that." She whispered, not taking her eyes off the shinning spectacle. I heard the crunch of gravel under feet and saw Fox coming towards us. I slipped off the wall and Fox sat where I was while I sat on the ground.

Fox actually look pretty beat and this barely ever shows through her beautiful features. She has long brown hair with the occasional blonde streak and hazel eyes like Sparrows. She has beautifully tanned skin and always keeps her finger nails long and painted, if possible.

"What's going on? Oh, hi Tigress." She greeted; Fox always wanted to know what was going on everywhere.

"We are just talking about stars." Shark said quietly, Fox leaned in and I explained what I had said to Shark. She nodded and turned her face to the sky, her eyes searching for a star.

We looked for stars for at least four hours, just looking at them shine and gleam. It was so peaceful, so quiet that it was hard to believe that we were going to be fighting for our lives very soon.

Fox and Shark had come down on the ground to sit next to me but soon enough, I had Fox's head on my lap and Shark's head on my shoulder. I didn't mind, but I knew that I wasn't about to go to sleep tonight.

I had now the responsibility to protect the others, to stay up all night and silently protect them. At least I had a lot of time to think about stuff, but surprisingly the first thing my mind went to was Wolf.

I was wondering how he was holding up back at the network, how much he must be missing Viper. I tried to brush it off but there was something that didn't feel right thinking about Wolf. I had a feeling that I was lying to myself when I said that everything was all right back at the network.

I managed to push that out of mind and move on to how far away we were from the Skynet tower. But my mind didn't stay on that for long as when I heard Fox groan on my lap. I softly brush her hair back in comfort and it seemed to work. She sighed and relaxed, it gave me the though that death must be just around the corner for one of us.

I couldn't tell who, but I had a bad feeling about the next day, that someone won't make it.

It felt like one minute it was dark and the next the sun was just peeking above the ruins they used to call suburbia. I softly shook Fox and Shark awake and we walked back to where the others were. We woke up everyone and made a fire. When Viper saw me she looked very relieved that I was awake.

"Come on, let's go get something to eat." I said, get my bow and quiver. Viper practically sprung up and off we went. We didn't go far, around two blocks at most. It was a good thing that the jungle was starting grow a bit more out there, we caught two rabbits and a bush turkey. I was surprised that we would find anything there at all.

We came back and cooked our catches, once we had eaten we set of through the maze of ruined houses. I took the lead, quietly trekking through the rubble and checking around every corner for terminators.

I could have almost started relaxing if it wasn't so hot, it was midday and by the look of everyone we needed water. I pressed myself up against a wall that had half crumbled but still covered us if anything was behind it. I sat down and steadied my breath, the rest of the group followed and they were happy to take the rest.

"We need water, Bear and Red Back could you please have a look for some?" I asked, they stood up and nodded. They took everyone's water bottles and went. They had the least heavy load, as for Shark who was carrying a rocket launcher around was sweating buckets.

The sun was sailing across the sky and it had been about an hour when Red Back and Bear came back. They were smiling and holding all our water bottles, they ran up to us and gave us all back our bottles.

We took big gulps and sat there gasping for air, although we didn't rest for long since we still had quite a way to go. So we continued and I could tell we were gradually getting closer and closer to the tower. I began to hear scuffling noises and gunfire, I could even smell the oil they use to help the robots move from where I was.

Then I heard something that was too close for comfort, the sound of metal on stone. Everyone froze and ran for shelter, but we separated. I had Python, Bear and Shark with me and I could see across the torn street from me Viper had Red Back, Fox and Sparrow. We had gone into separate houses just across from each other.

Python was breathing hard and she was shaking, Bear put a comforting hand on her shoulder but it didn't help. I tried to quiet her down since the sound of her breathing would attract the android over here. She just breathed harder and then cracked.

"Why do they have to be here? Why can't we just go out there and get it over with? Knock down the tower, huh?" She asked, we didn't even have enough time to answer before she completely lost it.

"They didn't have to come here, and the other networks could have just taken care of it. They had enough weapons to give us and shoot at us but they can't defend themselves? Nup, I don't buy it. There is something wrong with that network back there. There is something wrong with this whole thing and I know you know it, Tigress. " She was going hysterical, she was shouting at the top of her lungs. She was even spinning around in circles. Her water bottle dropped out of her bag with a 'thunk' and I picked it up. It was still full, why wouldn't she drink any of the water? I didn't have time for it so I stuffed it in my backpack and turned back to Python.

"Please, you need to be quiet. Python please!" Shark was begging, Python was simply ignoring her and still shouting. I heard my headset crackle to life then Viper's voice came through. "You need to shut the nutcase up because there's a big one coming straight for you."

The headset turned off and I closed my eyes, the orange light filled my eyes. I closed my eyes tighter and the wall in front of me disappeared, I could see right through it out on to the street.

I could see a big terminator swivelling around on its big legs and looking in my direction. I opened my eyes and thought about every way to stop her from talking. But I gave up when she slapped me in the face.

Everything went silent and she stopped spinning, I whipped my head straight at her. Rage was boiling in me and I couldn't help but let it out. Leaped at her and pinned her up against the wall. I put my hand across her mouth and hit her head against the wall but I didn't care. I raised my hand to slap her just kept it there as a warning if she moved she would get it, and get it hard.

She flinched thinking that I would have brought it down but I just held it there. I held my breath, listening for any sign that the big robot would be coming for us. The crackling came through the headset again and it was Viper.

"Alright, we got the diversion. You get out of there and get nuttso over there out." She reported, I was going to object at the thought of their diversion but she cut it out. I turned around to Shark and Bear; I took my hand off Python's mouth and wiped it on my pants.

"They're going to make a diversion, when they do you must get out. I will be covering you, okay?" I said, they nodded and we went to the doorway. I peeked out and saw everyone with Viper, then Red Back ran out into the middle of the street.

"Hey, you big tin can over here!" She said waving her arms around wildly, the big terminator turned its huge metal head and screeched. Red Back aimed her gun and the robot aimed his, she pulled the trigger and a shot of lighting blasted out of the barrel.

"RUN!" I screamed, we shot out of the doorway and ran just as Viper and her gang did. They stood beside Red Back and shot everything they had at the big android. I stopped and climbed up onto the roof, leaving Shark, Bear and Python to run to safety about three blocks down.

The terminator was get pummelled with bullets but gradually raised his machine gun, a spray of what looked to be were needles, made everyone scatter to the shelter of walls and trees.

But Red Back wasn't so lucky.


	10. Chapter 10

Needles covered the right side of her, although her face was untouched which was a bit of a relief. She ducked into the cover of a bush and began pulling out the needles that covered her like spines.

I saw a movement on the rooftop opposite me and Viper slid up with her sniper at the ready. I saw the foot of Sparrow poking out behind a wall as the terminator swung around, confused at where everyone had gone. Then I sneezed.

It swung its massive head around at me and I saw Viper grin, two bullets came from her and Sparrow leaped out of her hiding place. The two bullets hit its eyes and it was blinded. It was whipping its gigantic head around and stumbling to find something to grasp.

Sparrow slid under its stomping feet and grabbed onto its back, she flipped up onto the back and climbed up to the neck. She flicked out her knife and sliced its head straight off, Viper fire one more bullet right in its mouth just as the head fell to the ground.

Sparrow jumped of the body just as it crumpled to the ground; she walked over to the head and watched as the red glowing eyes faded to black. I jumped off the roof and ran to Red Back's side.

I tapped her on the shoulder and she whipped around, she flipped a knife out of my belt and raised her arm for a stab. I rolled out of the way just as she brought down her arm down and kicked dirt in her eyes.

"What's wrong?" I cried, she didn't answer me, she had a twisted look of fierce determination on her face that almost scared me. But this was Red Back, she was harmless to us and she wouldn't dare hurt a fly.

I stood up and grabbed my thunder gun, she came at me and I pulled the trigger. A shock wave came out of the gun, knocking her off her feet and knocking into my shoulder. I saw out of the corner of my eye that Viper, Sparrow and Fox were coming towards us.

I tucked my gun back into my belt just as Red Back got back up, she went for a jab but I blocked it and slapped her in the cheek. I had hoped that it would wake her up from what ever it was she was dreaming about but there was no result, it actually made her madder.

She ran straight at me, the knife making slashing noises as it whizzed through the air in front of me. I could hear Viper and her gang stop a bit behind me but I didn't bother to look behind.

"Red Back, what's wrong?" I screamed at her, she just growled and went for a cut at my throat. I held my hand up for a block and knocked the knife out of her hand, I kicked it behind me and snatched her wrist. She swung a punch at my head with her other hand and I grabbed it.

"Red Back, what's going on? This isn't funny if this is a joke!" I demanded, more hatred boiled up in her eyes as she tried to struggle free. I kicked the back of her knees to get her down and she fell.

"Die you evil thing, I will never be your prisoner at Skynet!" She spat at me, I shook my head. What did she mean by 'prisoner at Skynet', we were going there to burn it to the ground! Out of my confusion she swung her legs around and took me down, she stood up and stared at me with anger.

She took out her gun and aimed it right at my head, a sick smile crossed her face and I closed my eyes waiting for the end of my life that Red Back now held in her hands. But my eyes shot open when the firing of a different gun sounded through the air. From a Ray Gun A Kimbo, Fox's gun.

Red Back fell to the ground beside me, a perfect bullet hole through her heart. Her eyes still displayed that look of determination and hatred that she had been looking at me with. Everyone crowded around her, to look at her for the last time.

I closed my eyes tightly because I couldn't look at her any more but the orange light appeared. I was looking through Red Back's body, through her bones and veins when I saw something most parculiar.

All of her right side was a darker orange than the rest of her; I opened my eyes and stared at her right side. It still had a few spots from the needles; I closed my eyes tightly again and saw the same unusual dark side. Then a small picture came up it the corner my eye; it had a picture of a bowl full of dark purple liquid.

A name came up under it that I couldn't pronounce, then came what it was. The needles had poison on them; it must have made her hallucinate that I was an enemy. A terminator.

I opened my eyes and saw everyone staring at me strangely, I stared back at them then turned to Red Back. I slipped one of my arms under her neck then my other under her legs. I lifted her up and began walking; the gang quickly joined me with expectant faces.

"She was poisoned, she must have been hallucinating." I quickly said, they nodded understandingly and we continued walking in silence. I led them the way I saw Bear, Shark and Python go and we soon saw them. From what I could see, they were trying to make Python drink but she was refusing

They stood up when they saw me coming and stared in anguish at the dead body in my arms. I stopped in front of them and watched as they looked over our friend for the last time. Everyone sat down but Viper and me, I took her for a walk down the street we were sitting on the curb of.

I saw a house at the top of the street and we walked up to it, no one was inside. Viper opened the door and let me in front; I went through the house looking for the bedroom. I found it and Viper joined me in it, she pulled back the blanket on the bed and I placed Red Back gently on the bed with her head on the pillow.

I closed her eyes and pulled the blanket up to her chin just as a tear ran down my face. I stood back with Viper to look at Red Back's body for the last time, she looked as if she was simply asleep and didn't have to be shot down for our own safety. We left the room quietly, not daring to look back otherwise I would burst.

We walked out of the abandon house and I out of the corner of my eye, I saw Viper look back. Only for a second, then we made our way back down the street to the curb where everyone was sitting. They didn't even look up at us as we came to sit beside them. I looked of at Fox who had a guilty expression on her face; I personally couldn't blame her.

"What's wrong, Fox?" Bear asked quietly, Fox whipped her head in her direction and glared at her. Bear looked rather taken a back by what she had done but held her glare steadily.

"What's wrong? What wrong? Bear, I just had to shoot my friend in the back!" She said hysterically, she was on the verge of bawling. She stood up and kicked a small rock across the street. Then Sparrow stood up and crossed her arms across her chest; she looked threatening even if she was smaller than Fox.

"Yeah, well, it was either her or Tigress and I don't think Tigress' life should have been taken for a psycho." She said sternly, I could see that Fox still wasn't completely convinced.

"That's right, and I had to watch you shoot her. Do you think I liked it? No, not one bit. Fox it wasn't your fault." Sparrow's tone softened with her on the last sentence, Fox sighed and relaxed. She took Sparrow into and brief hug before we all stood up. I sighed and Viper looked at me, I nodded in response and we began walking again. Though it was long before we hit our next obstacle.

They used to call it the Brisbane River but it had shrunk very much since then, though it was still quite a large body of water. We stood on the edge of the river, peering into the brown, murky water and I knew we were all thinking the same thing. Hydrobots probably infested this water; they took over all sources of water. I saw a movement in the corner of my eye and turned my head to see Python wading into the water.

She held her gun on her shoulders and her hammer was strapped to her belt, she was going first. She was ankle deep when she looked back at us and smiled nervously. Then Bear went in behind her but she was going faster, trying to get away from us. We followed her in a line, carefully wading into the water that freezed me to the bone.

We kept a look out for any Hydrobots that might be lurking around; Python had reached the middle of the river when she stopped. We couldn't see anything and we thought this might be a good time to catch up to her when all of a sudden, something leaped out of the water right in front of Python.

Then we could see them, the water rippling as they swam around us and the faint glow of their red eyes beneath the surface of the brown muck. Then Python disappeared beneath the surface and we ran. The Hydrobots started springing out of everywhere; we could only just be quick enough to shoot them. But Python was in major trouble.

She had piles and piles of them on her, trying to rip her apart. But she was shouting something that only came clear to me when I blasted a Hydrobot away. She was shouting for us to run, to get away. To escape. I turned to Bear who had just blown a Hydrobot's head off and she looked at me.

"We need to go, while Python's distracting the Hydrobots!" I shouted over the splashing and shooting going on around us. Bear looked horrified then peeked over my shoulder to where Python was still yelling at us to run. She shook her head then grabbed Shark's arm who was just about to go and have a full on tackle match with a Hydrobot.

"We have to go, grab Fox and I'll grab Sparrow." She reported, Shark nodded and started searching the waters for Fox while Bear found Sparrow and started dragging her across the rest of the river. I found Viper a few metres from me where she was gunning down Hydrobots left, right and centre.

I grabbed her arm and tugged her away; I saw Shark and Fox swimming to the other side and followed them. Bear was pulled Sparrow out of the water when I felt Viper slip from my grasp, I turned back to see a Hydrobot had a hold of her leg. She screamed and gave it five bullets to the head, as it fell limp we ran up the bank panting hard.

Then everyone started shooting at the massive twisting mess that surrounded Python, every time a Hydrobot was killed; another would just take its place. Viper would hit so many that I thought that Python might actually make it out alive, I flipped out my bow and took aim. I shot a few bots but then something happened that made me forget how to breathe.

Two friends in one day, dead. One of the Hydrobots had obviously had enough and pierced its sharp, blade of a tail through her neck. That was all I saw before she fell into the water and the Hydrobots covered her.

I took my arrow out and fell to my knees, tears welling up in my eyes. I just stared out into the river, willing her to come back up for air and come back up to us. I realised that I wasn't breathing and took a big, shaking breath.

I closed my eyes and saw the orange light that surrounded every object that I lay my closed eyes on. I closed them tighter and saw beneath the surface of the murky water, I saw Python's body. It was being torn apart, limb from limb. I opened my eyes and just kept staring, and then the tears fell.

I hurriedly wiped them away and heard everyone else sit down beside me along the bank. Some had started crying quietly and other were still shocked. I was still shocked, I couldn't believe that one of my closest friends had just been killed.

Then there was a movement on the rocks behind us. I sprung up and turned to face them with my bow loaded and ready.


	11. Chapter 11

I was staring at a little girl with flaming red hair, pointing a shotgun at me. My weapon didn't phase her at all and I could tell her company wasn't either, two boys and another girl. One of the boys had light blonde, almost white hair that came out the back in wisps, he would be about up to my shoulder if we stood side by side but I could tell he was fast. The other was tall and thin like Python was and had black hair that came out in curls around his face.

The other girl was about the leaders height but was pale and had long, black hair that was tied into a bun. The rest of my gang spun around and stood up, wanting to see who had snuck up on us.

"Who are you?" I asked sternly, making it loud and clear that we didn't want to be messed with. The little leader grinned and lifted her chin to make her look a bit more threatening, I didn't think it worked. I could barely see her eyes under her grey, broad rimmed hat but I knew they were there.

"We are an Outcast group, this is our territory. Who are you?" She reported and might I say quite confidently for someone who was staring at a razor sharp arrow pointed straight at them.

"We are from a network called The Zoo, sent here to destroy the Skynet tower being built here." I said, the leader sighed and put her gun down by her side, the rest of her company did the same. I noticed that they all wore something green, the leader wore a green bandanna, the blonde boy wore a green wristband, the tall boy wore a green sleeved jacket and the long haired girl wore a green bow in her hair.

I lowered my bow, took out the arrow and placed it back in my quiver. I felt everyone relax around me including myself and the leader tilted her hat back so I could properly see her eyes. They were bright blue.

"Well, one of you have actually heard our cry for help. I'm Sage." She said with a dry tone. I nodded and we walked up to each other until we were face to face.

"I'm Tigress, and yes we have heard your cry for help." I replied with the same dry tone she gave to me. She stuck out her hand and I grasped it firmly, we shook then our groups merged. Uncertain looks were shot my way but I ignored them and came up the front of the group with Sage.

"Let's go." She whispered and off we went with faint grumbles and groans heard from behind. We made our way away from the river and found ourselves in a deep marshy environment, every step we took seemed to be on springy ground. Massive mangrove trees with their arching roots surrounded us and you could occasionally see a mudskipper skimming across the mud.

I could hear people curse as they tripped over a hidden root or vine then regain their feet. I didn't dare look back though, just in case I tripped myself so I just kept my eyes to the ground. Then something hit my nose, the smell of smoke and meat cooking.

Up ahead were a big lot of bushes that covered a gap through the trees. It almost acted as a wall; we stopped in front of it. The small leader turned to a tree next to her and knocked on it, a reply knock returned and a door in the tree swung open. I couldn't help but open my mouth in shock, I felt my eyes go wide and a gasp escaped my lips.

Feeling very stupid, I closed my mouth and followed behind the girl as she stepped into the tree and found myself in a small room. Definitely not big enough for all of us to fit in, luckily there was a staircase going down so we didn't have to all be squished like sardines into a tree.

I noticed that there were lamps hanging on the walls that made the staircase feel almost magical. Then we hit solid ground, a tunnel, and walked down that for a few minutes. Then another staircase going up appeared in front of us; more lamps hung from the walls.

We hiked up them and came to a door, a big wooden one. Sage pushed it open and a soft pinkish orange glow filled my eyes. We came out in a tent and the smoke smell hit my nose again even stronger.

"Just put your stuff down there and my people will take care of it." She said pointing to a weaved cane rug next to her bed. I took off my backpack, quiver, bow and thunder gun and placed them carefully on the rug. Sage walked out of the tent into a clearing, I followed her and smiled.

We were in a camp, and quite an organised one at that. Right in the centre of the clearing was two separate fires both cooking different things, one had a plucked bird roasting over it and the other had a pan of vegetables with water in them over the other.

Bushes surrounded the edge of the clearing but when I looked closer, they were actually tents and from what I could tell they each housed different people. The one closest to the back had what looked to be future mothers. The tent next to that seemed to be the nursery for the mothers that had given birth and had to move out to make room for others.

On the other side of the back tent was a dark cave like tent but I could smell herbs and roots coming from there. Next to the cave tent was sounds of playing and scuffling, which must be the little kids tent. It had a barrier of thorns around it making it impossible for someone like me to get in there.

Next to the scuffling tent was a smaller one, an old woman shuffled out of the bush covering and sat by the fire. In this day and age, old meant about forty to fifty years old but apparently a few years ago people could live until they were eighty. It is even called an achievement if you can make it to fifty.

Then this was the tent that caught my eye, it was the biggest from what I could see and I knew it went back into the mangroves. Excited talking could be heard from inside the tent along with the occasionally laugh or giggle. They were young voices, still fresh and not husky like the older people.

Then I couldn't help but notice a parculiar looking tent set up next to the nursery, the roots of a mangrove had been raised so high that you could put Bear on Shark's shoulders and still have a bit of room. The mangroves roots came out and down like a cage and then I realised what they had done. They had tied up a canvas and stuck the knot at the part of the tree where all the roots came out at the top, then cut out a door in between two roots.

I didn't know what it was for but it was a genius move to make something like that. I felt everyone behind me staring at the magnificent camp set out in front of us. We walked out and sat around one of the fires, the smell of beautiful roasted bird coming from the rotating object. Two people pushed past us and took the bird off, replacing it with another plucked bird.

I didn't bother to see where they put the cooked bird; I was worried about where we were going to stay. I hoped that Sage had enough heart to let us stay hear for the night. I looked around the dimming camp and spotted her going back into her tent, which I realised had been built under a rock.

I followed her into the tent and she turned around to face me. She had two flints in one hand and a candle in the other; she shook her head and set the candle down on a table. She practically hit the two flints together and sparks flew, spraying onto the candle and setting it alight.

"I was wondering if we could possibly stay here for the night?" I asked politely, she smiled and motioned for me to walk with her. I didn't hesitate and stuck right be her side as she lit every candle in her tent then went outside.

"We will accommodate you for tonight and tonight only." She said as we went into the nursery and lit the candles in there, little toddlers surrounded us with their mothers watching from the edges of the tent. One of them in particular caught my eye, she was bigger than the others were and I think Sage could see it as well. We walked over to the mother who saw us and nodded respectfully at Sage.

"Do you think she is ready, Leader?" She asked politely, Sage looked back over her shoulder at the girl and nodded. The mother sighed in relief and the other mothers congratulated her as we walked out of the tent. But just before we disappeared though, she called back over her shoulder.

"The ceremony will be at midday tomorrow, Mist." Then we walked over to the next tent of which Sage told me to keep out of. I waited until she came out then continued on to the next one.

"You will also be given two guides to help you through the No Lands." She said as we came up to the front of the tent with the thorns. We went around the back and walked through the opening left for us.

"The No Lands?" I questioned as little children swarmed us, tugging at my pants and tapping me on the leg. Simple beds of feathers that had been wrapped in animal skin lye all over the place.

"Yes, the No Lands. Even before the arrangements for the Skynet tower, the No Lands had been the most dangerous part of our territory and it contains our boundary. The No Lands are called that because no one had ever return from going there." She explained, lighting the last of the candles that had been put up and out of the children's reach. Most of the kids in here must have been anywhere between six to twelve years old. Whereas in the nursery, they were still very young from one to five or six years old.

We exited out the back and went to the next tent, the one with the older people. When I walked in I was surprised to see only four people in the tent; compared to the other tents this was empty. The people raised their heads and nodded respectfully at Sage who finished lighting the last candle then went back out. Then we went to the big tent.

"Do you think we could do it, though?" I asked her as we stepped into the next tent, then everything went quiet and I realised that everyone was staring at us. This was the tent that had most of the people in it, about forty people between the ages of thirteen to thirty. Personally it was very intimidating but Sage just march in, lit the candles then walked out.

I turned to go out then heard a little rustle, then something whistling towards my head. I moved my head to the right a saw a big berry splat onto the wall where my head was just a second ago. I stepped out and left the people gaping behind me.

Sage then blew out the candle and I walked with her back to her tent, she sat down on her bed whilst I just sat on the woven cane rug. She sighed and took off her boots, stretching her toes that I heard crack with every movement.

"If you are such a good team, then yes I believe you can make it through the No Lands. My guides will only take you to the border, then it's up to them if they want to accompany you to the tower." I thought about Sage's reply to my question, I didn't even have that much faith in myself. Then I thought about her second part of what she had said and wondered for what reason they might want to stay with us to go to the tower.

"Vine! Come here please." Sage called, next moment a tall young boy peeps through the tent doorway.

"If you could find Coal and Spring for me, I would like a word with them." Sage ordered, Vine nodded and left. I looked at Sage questioningly but she kept her eyes at the doorway, waiting for who must be my two guides.

Then two faces appeared in the doorway, the two boys who we had seen with Sage on our way here. The tall one with black curls and the shorter one with blonde hair. She waved her hand for them to come in; they followed her order and stood in front of her expectantly.

"You will be Tigress' groups guide to our boundary, it is then your choice if you want to continue with them to the Skynet tower. There are no arguments. You will leave tomorrow." She instructed, looks of disappointment fell over their faces and with a nod of respect they forwarded out of the tent.

I made my way out of the tent and rejoined my group who was lounging around in their sleeping bags near the fire. They looked up and smiled at me as I made my way to them. Sparrow passed me my sleeping bag and I laid it down on the ground, I smoothed it out and sat on it. Right now the sun had completely set and stars were poking out in the sky, the fire gave off comfortable warmth and its glow gave us a good amount of light.

"I can't believe we lost Rose and Jade today, I mean Red Back and Python. Sorry." Fox commented, I nodded in response and Bear sighed.

"Yeah, but Python died a hero and Red Back was killed for our own safety. Red Back's death still and never will be your fault, Fox." Bear replied, Fox sat up and turned her head to Bear with her eyes blazing.

"No Bear, it will always be my fault. I shot my friend." She spat at Bear; Shark put her hand on Fox's shoulder.

"But you saved Tigress, she's the leader in this operation and we couldn't do it without her." Shark said comfortingly, Fox's shoulders relaxed and she muttered an apology to Bear who just waved her hand in acknowledgment. Then everything seemed to go quiet as everyone remembered our two friends who will never be coming home.

I watched as everyone climbed into their sleeping bags although I didn't myself. Then Viper asked me to do something that I hadn't done for a long time.

"Hey, I know this sounds weird but Tigress, um, could you sing to us?" She asked like she was a little kid asking for another helping of breakfast. This stirred everyone; soon I had everyone's eyes looking at me expectantly.

"Just to break a bit of the tension…" Viper faded of as I nodded; now I had to think of a song. There wasn't a lot of music around these days since we don't really know about it. I thought about the old days when I still had my parents and my sister with me, then it hit me.

"A gentle breeze from Hushaby Mountain  
Softly blows over Lullaby Bay  
It fills the sails of boats that are waiting  
Waiting, to sail your worries away" I sang softly, I heard the group settle into their sleeping bags and as I walked around them they looked up at me, waiting for me to sing the rest of the song. I hadn't sung for so long that I thought my voice sounded the worst it ever had. But obviously not.

"It isn't far to Hushaby Mountain  
And your boat waits down by the quay  
The winds of night, so softly are sighing  
Soon they will fly your troubles to sea" I sang, stopping by Fox to stroke her hair. She was so troubled at this point; after all she is blaming herself for Red Back's death then having to burden another death straight after would be hard to handle. I continued around to where Viper and Bear were then sat between them.

"So close your eyes on Hushaby Mountain  
Wave goodbye, to cares of the day  
And watch your boat from Hushaby Mountain  
Sail far away from Lullaby Bay" I continued with an approving nod from Viper who was getting drowsy just like the rest of them. I looked behind me at the tents to see heads poking out of their tents. I could see them staring at me with smiles on their faces. Then I repeated the last verse to finish the song.

"So close your eyes on Hushaby Mountain  
Wave goodbye, to cares of the day  
And watch your boat from Hushaby Mountain  
Sail far away from Lullaby Bay" I went back to my sleeping bag and listened to the sound of people returning to their tents.

As I watched the coals dim and glow as the fire died, I though about everything that had happened today. All the death that I saw pass through this day had made a record. I regretted the moment where I would have to succumb to sleep once more, where I was a sure vicious nightmare would haunt me.


	12. Chapter 12

I had a surprisingly dreamless night and felt well rested even though I went to sleep at about eleven last night. When I woke up, I didn't bother to open my eyes. I just layed there, in my sleeping bag, listening to the sound of the mangrove forests waking up. But because of my contact lenses, I could still see everything. Then something strange happened, everything turned blue.

I sat up in surprised and put my hands out in front of me to feel where I was, but all I got was dirt and the crunchy material of my own sleeping bag. The blue was bright, so bright it started to hurt my eyes but when I opened them it was worse. It was like coming out of a tunnel with the light hitting your unsuspecting eyes and staying that way.

After about a minute, the bright blue toned down to a deeper blue then a big room appeared in front of me. It was a familiar room, but it wasn't the one that was in the Skynet tower. Then Wolf stepped up to the screen.

"Hey Tigress, how's it going?" He asked cheerfully, too cheerfully for my liking. I stared at him closely and he stared back at me.

"Still disappointed in you for not telling Viper that you like her." I spat at him, but I was. I was very disappointed in him for not telling her that he likes her, then leaving me with the burden of having to bring her back in one piece. I was satisfied when I saw the apologetic expression on his face.

"What else was I to do? She is too head strong and hard for me to tell her…" He said quietly, what was that meant to mean? He saw my face and quickly waved his hands at me.

"Wait! No! That's not what I meant!" He cried, I was getting very annoyed with him at this point and I think he could tell.

"Okay, I didn't call you to just talk about love lives…" I opened my mouth in disgust and he waved his hands again.

"Not what I meant! I didn't even call to talk about this stuff!" He slapped his hand on his forehead and sighed. I rolled my eyes and he straightened up again, took a deep breath and looked at me.

"We went to investigate the place where you landed yesterday because on our satellite systems, you had landed in a forest in the middle of a pond. When we found that there was something built there, we knew it had to be the works of a Skynet squadron." He informed me, with worry showing in his green eyes. It didn't make much sense to me either, what's going on? Our satellites are always correct so it must be the work of Skynet, but why would they help us? Maybe they had planned that we would stay longer and kill us then. Maybe that's why they had shot at us in the truck while we were getting away.

"I don't know why they had given you guns, we knew when we did an inventory search, but something isn't right here." Wolf continued on but I didn't bother to listen because Python's words were playing over and over in my head, saying that things weren't right and I knew it. Even though she possibly was barely even conscious while she was saying it, she meant it.

"Okay?" He finished, I absent-mindedly nodded and he smiled reassuringly, although it didn't work. Then transmission was cut and I opened my eyes to look at the morning light for the first time. While I still had Python fresh in my mind, I remembered the water bottle she hadn't drunk out of that was still in my bag.

I zipped open my bag and scrounged around for it desperately. I grasped hold of it and dragged it through the rest of my stuff in my bag; I examined it in the dim, grey light. I closed my eyes tightly and saw straight through the metal bottle into the water.

I couldn't tell at first what it was, then I recognised the dark orange stripe that separated itself from the rest of the light orange water. It was poison.

But how could something like that get into the bottle when two of the trustworthiest people I knew were in charge of them? Unless it had happened before we got the water and the people at The Mines had put it in. Wolf did tell me that there wasn't something right about that network, and that was the only explanation I could think of.

I felt a set of eyes being laid upon me and I quickly found them, I glared back and the blonde boy tucked his head back in behind the tent. There was the sound of an argument then he was pushed out into the light where I could see him. He turned around then back the other way and saw me; he turned to face me and sheepishly smiled.

"Hi, um… Yeah…" He fumbled around and his eyes darted to the space behind the tent he came out from. Soon after, his partner came slinking out from the shadow of the tent with a mischievous tinge to his brown eyes. He faced me and put his arm behind his friend's back. With that he pushed the blonde haired boy forward and he stumbled into the dirt, he slowed to a stop right in front of my leg.

"Hi?" He asked feebly, I immediately stood up and he copied my actions. We brushed the dirt off our clothes and stared at each other. The taller boy cautiously came up to his friend's side and smiled. I turned away from them and started kicking everyone awake; I ignored the boys as they made disgusted sounds.

Once everyone was awake, and frankly rubbing their limbs, I came up to the boys and asked them where our guns were hidden. They pointed to the leader's tent, under the rock, and I strode up to the massive boulder. I felt a hand being laid on my shoulder and twisted out of it, leaving someone whimpering behind me.

I swiftly stepped into the tent, being careful not to make a sound as I surveyed the tent for any sign of our guns that we now needed. Then I saw a bump under the woven cane rug; I quickly leaped over to the rug that was so close to where Sage was sleeping that I could hear her breathing. I felt around for the lump and got it, flipping up the rug I saw what I was looking for

A ring, a metal ring that was just on the border of an outline that signified a door. I lifted the door, unfortunately too quickly for it to be quiet, and I saw Sage stir. I held my breath and became as still as stone, waiting for her to spot me. But nothing happened, I turned to the doorway and sure enough there was my support team ready to take our stuff back.

With caution, Viper, Bear and Shark walked into the room. I piled all that they could hold into their arms until they had left leaving me with the rest of our backpacks. I slung them over my shoulders and strapped them around my arms until there was nothing left. Then I let the door go and it slammed shut.

"Oh, that's not good…" I muttered to myself, unaware that Viper was right behind me.

"Yeah, not good at all. We need to move. Now!" She said with urgency in her voice, she pulled me to my feet and we sprinted out of the tent back into the clearing not daring to look back. I dropped everyone's bags in front of them then ran to my sleeping bag that had been rolled up ready for me. I quickly stuffed my sleeping bag into my backpack then tossed it onto my shoulders.

I slung my bow and quiver onto my back along with my thunder gun then did a quick head count. That's when I saw Sage burst out of her tent, whipping her head around. She spotted us and that's when my instinct quickly kicked in, thankfully.

"Run! Stay together and don't look back!" I screamed, sprinting to the first exit I saw which was a small space between the nursery and the tent at the back. I felt everyone's presence behind me, including our guides, then let my feet do the rest.

We dashed through the bush barrier, my feet landed on the spongy turf that we travelled through yesterday. I wound my way through mangroves and dodged around roots, occasionally having to slide under them because they were too big to dodge or jump over. As we ran, I noticed that the land was starting to become firmer and fewer trees and bushes were appearing.

I started to slow down and take in my surroundings, then someone ran into me and I was pushed forward. My arms popped out in front of me and broke my fall, just as I turned around to see who had pushed me I saw Bear trip over and come down to me. I held my arms out to catch her and closed my eyes, waiting for her to fall on me but there was nothing.

There was the sound of a heaved breath and I opened my eyes, Bear was standing up with a confused look upon her face. Then I noticed that she had her arms behind her back and saw someone was behind her. She pulled her wrists in front of her and I dragged myself up to look at her rescuer. It was the tall boy with the curly black hair; he stood back and his eyes dropped to the ground.

She swung around to face him and put her arms down by her sides, a slight blush appeared on his cheeks and he went to the back of the group. I shook my head and spun back to the front, looking around at the now very barren wasteland in front of me. A grey mist had settled in front of us, making it hard to see what was beyond. The only thing that was not even frequently scattered on the landscape was rocks, from boulders to pebbles it was there. Though it wasn't mountainous so it thankfully took less time than intended to get to the tower.

It seemed that everything was grey, the mist, the rocks and even the ground we stood on was grey. There was absolutely no colour apart from the group and I, right then I understood why the called this place the No Lands. Anyone could go crazy if they went in here alone and stayed here. They would go bored out of their mind, then they would have the complication to get something to drink and eat.

"Hey, we stopped!" called Sparrow from somewhere in the middle of the group, the sound of gravel crunching under someone's foot could be heard.

"No shit, Sherlock." Said a very annoyed Bear from behind me, I nudged her in the back and she turned around to face me.

"Come on, we shouldn't have too much further to go now." I said encouragingly, Viper cocked an eyebrow and Shark grunted in disbelief. So I started walking, at first I didn't hear anything behind me but slowly they begun walking too. I closed my eyes and instantly the mist was gone, I could see for as long as I wanted. Since everything solid was tinted in orange, everything was much clearer than if I had my eyes open.

There was still a certain smell in the air that was familiar but felt dangerous in a way that I couldn't explain. I couldn't see anything that looked threatening, no androids or animals that could sneak up on us. Then there was faint crackling in my ear and Bear's voice came through.

"Why would you do something like that, huh?" She whispered with hostility in her voice, I opened my eyes and was just about to ask what I had done when another voice came through.

"What would you like me to have done? Let you fall?" A male voice said, I could tell it wasn't the blonde ones that I had heard this morning.

"Yeah, well I can manage on my own you know. She would have caught me." Bear retorted, even though she was right behind me I could only hear her through the headset.

"Oh, a thanks would be nice but, you know, just say what could have been done if I wasn't there to help you." The male voice came back at her with venom in his words, I could also hear a dash of guilt right at the end and it hit me. He likes her. Great just what do I have to deal with now, another happy couple. Wolf likes Viper and now one of our guides likes Bear.

"Alright!" I shouted swinging around to face Bear and the tall boy; I had enough of this love nonsense. I was sick of being burdened with the pressure of having to bring someone home just so that there could be a relationship that might or might not work.

"Hey what's your name?" I asked the tall boy who looked quite shocked like the rest of the group. He looked over his shoulder then back at me and pointed to himself, I nodded and he rolled his eyes.

"Coal, my name is Coal." He replied shyly, I could have slapped him right then and there for being shy when he had been very willing to push his friend into me before.

"Well, Coal, could you possibly take the lead since I have no idea where we are going to reach the border. So if you could pull yourself away from your pathetic emotions that would be much appreciated." I spat at him; everything went quiet as I glared at him. He hung his head and made his way up in front of me, my eyes followed him all the way up there and I didn't take them off him. I heard a chocked cry of shock come from Bear but when I swung my head around and gave her a warning look, she just closed her mouth. We followed Coal the rest of the way in silence, only the shuffle of our feet could be heard as we made our way across the barren plain.

I closed my eyes to make sure we were in the clear when I saw something looming up in the distance, it was a fence. A barbed wire fence to be precise, which sent a shiver up my spine. I opened my eyes and sure enough, through the mist, the slight outline of the barbed wire fence could be seen. Coal started to slow until he had stopped in front of the fence, we gathered around the fence to get a look at it.

"This is the border, and this is as far as we're going." Reported Coal sadly, then his friend came up to the front and stood next to him.

"No, I'm going." He demanded, I raised an eyebrow in question and with a brief glance at his friend, the blonde boy continued.

"I want an adventure, and if this is the only opportunity then I would like to take it. You have shown just how rebellious you can be by running away from our leader, I would like a taste of that." He held his head high and I could tell he was strong from his build, he could be useful but then I worried about his friend. I turned my head to him and blinked, he dipped his head and spoke.

"Yeah, I just want to go with Spring. I think it's a where ever he goes I go kind of thing." Coal said with a nod to he friend, Spring. I considered the advantages and disadvantages of taking them, like they could stuff up a stealth mission if they're too jumpy but they could help us with encountering terminators.

With the list down I realised that there were more good things than bad about taking these two on, I nodded and a smile spread over Spring's face. Spring looked up at his friend then back at me, he bowed then bounded to the back of the group where Viper was waiting to hear the news. Then I turned to Coal who had a relieved expression on his face.

I couldn't help but look over his shoulder to see a movement in the mist; quite a big shape had started to emerge. I brushed him behind me and flipped out my bow, arrow loaded, and waited to see who was coming at us. Bear joined me with her AK 47 pointed at the shape and Fox came up on my other side with her ray gun ready. It was a familiar shape though, it wasn't big or square enough to be a terminator and it wasn't small enough to be an animal.

Then I recognised shoulders and a head with hair, it was a person. I felt Coal tap me on the shoulder and I turned my head slightly in his direction as acknowledgment. He swallowed and immediately I could tell he was worried about something.

"There has never been someone sighted beyond our border, not one living thing." He said shakily, I thought about this and what he meant. If there was not one living thing over there then who or what was that? I directed my focus back to the approaching figure, but it didn't look very awkward for a human, it had a massive lump on the side of its hip. I then realised as it got closer that it was a giant hammer, it came at me with full force. It only confirmed it when it spoke.

"Hey, Do you people know where I could find a gang from a network?" Came a feeble voice, I dropped my bow and stood there in surprise. I felt tears spring into my eyes and everyone around me relax as we registered who it was walking towards us. Then her face came into view and I felt my legs shaking. I couldn't believe what was going on, I could believe that she was here and I could tell she was just as happy to see us than we were.

I dropped to my knees as she stretched out her arms and a surprised cry came from Viper just as she did a flying leap over the fence to jump into her arms.

Python had come back.


	13. Chapter 13

Python had tears coming down her cheeks as she held Viper in her thin arms, by then Fox and Sparrow had also jumped the fence and begun to hug our supposedly dead friend. I was still staring at her from behind the barbed fence, still trying to digest what had just happen. I felt Bear tuck her hand under my arm and lift me up onto my shaking legs.

I steadied myself as the rest of us crossed over to the outside of the border, then I went over. Viper, Fox and Sparrow had pulled themselves away and Python turned to me. Then my spirits fell as I looked into her eyes; a flash of red appeared and just as quickly as it had come it was gone. Either way I opened my arms and Python wrapped her arms around me in a hug, it was good to have her back.

Everyone was asking her questions while Spring and Coal stood to the back of the group, still trying to process what was going on. I personally had a few questions of my own that made me more hostile towards her than I had planned. I had planned to be welcoming.

After Python answered as many questions as she could, we formed our group and started our trek through the No Lands with one extra person. My sight was starting to fail me, as I hadn't eaten last night, I also hadn't had any water although the big gulps I had taken from the day before yesterday had held out.

I made a mental note to stop for a little while to eat and drink but for then I had to push on. Then I thought of something that could ruin us, we didn't know where we were going let alone how close we were to the tower to how much we might have to stock up to save time. Because from what was happening and what Sage was telling me, the tower had already been built.

I closed my eyes and the usual orange outline came into view, making my vision normal again. Then, it was like a camera zooming out of a pinpoint. The pinpoint being me, the camera flipped up so it was still looking at me but from above my head. I could still see through my normal view in a little box in the bottom left in my eye but this was far more convenient.

It kept zooming out until a building came into view in the corner of my eye; a spike was planted on the top of it. It stopped and numbers started buzzing down the bottom of my eyes. The orange was starting to fade and become lighter when the numbers stopped on a count down. From thirty hours, it started counting down and my eyes flew open.

I had no idea that I had fallen over until I felt the hard cracked ground beneath my fingers. Then Sparrow and Fox lifted me up back onto my feet, I ran my fingers through my messy hair and mumbled thanks to them. I couldn't get that count down out of my head though, I had a sense that it didn't mean that was how long it would take us to get there but something more urgent.

I kept walking with my eyes closed, trying to think and also having my vision unfazed. Sure enough, the count down was still there at the bottom of my eyes no matter where I looked. The orange started to slowly dissolve along with all of the barren plain that we were walking on. I looked behind me and my group had gone to be replaced with nothing but a bare metal wall.

I turned back to see that I in a massive control room, there was Jaguar staring at a screen. My hand went to my back but there wasn't anything there for my to grab, no bow, no gun, nothing. Then it went to my chest where I should have had my knives but it was just my normal black T-shirt.

Jaguar turned around and started pacing, I was waiting for her to see me but there was absolutely no recognition in her bright green eyes. Her long boots were tapping on the floor but I directed my attention away from the scary person. The table she was pacing in front of was round and a boring shade of grey with four chairs around it and spaced evenly.

The walls were all the same metal and there was a big screen on the other side of the table that showed a view from what looked to be a hidden camera somewhere in the tower then flicked to another different one. It also had the same count down that I had on the bottom of the screen.

It was then that I noticed that someone was sitting at the table facing Jaguar who had stopped pacing and turned to him. I looked over his features and saw that it was Steve, the person that she had shot and was meant to be dead. Then I remembered my dream, how she had dropped him into the blue liquid and how she had talked to him before she had done so.

"You can't stop them, you know." He spat at her; I heard the brush of chains and saw that he had been chained to the chair. I dared to walk up to the table and sit in a vacant chair to see her reaction.

"My dear, they will come and they will fall." She spoke sweetly and put actual love into every word but I could tell he still wasn't convinced. I definitely wouldn't be if someone I loved shot me in the head just because I couldn't kill someone the first time.

"First, I'm not your dear and second you are the one that's going to fall." He retorted, with a flap of her hooded cape she leaped at him. She had one arm on the armrest of the chair and her other hand was already pointing her pistol at Steve's head. She smiled with a mixture of sick love and murder; she titled her head slightly and giggled. It echoed of the metal walls and disappeared out the open doorway.

"You know Steve, you're still that stupid little slime ball that I let myself love back in the orphanage. I gave you back your life, full function of your body and this is how you repay me?" Her voice was full of malice and death it made me shudder but Steve was holding out.

"I would rather have burned in that hell hole than come with you here, now I think about it." He came back with a surprisingly strong voice but it didn't even dent Jaguar's mask of hatred.

"That can be arranged. Anything for you sweetie!" She said with now fake love, she took the pistol from his head and stood up. She spat right at his eye and walked out the door. I got up and followed her; I gave Steve a sympathetic glance and continued to follow Jaguar. I walked out on to the familiar raised walkways with the cages of the growing number of prisoners. We strode into a room with at least twenty computers with workers all typing away furiously at them.

"All right, what have we got on our fake network The Mines." When she said the network's name it was dripping with hate. A tall man with a black ponytail stood up and ran to Jaguar's side with a clipboard in his hand.

"Well, you see, there has been a bit of an inconvenience. The Zoo has found our fake network and they have destroyed it." He said slowly, Jaguar thought about this and nodded. The man then held up his hand as if to wait and continued.

"But, we have been monitoring the movement of that search and destroy group sent for us and they are getting closer. Right on schedule." Jaguar's eyes lit up at this news and a feeling of dread came over me. What did they mean by right on schedule? What ever it was it didn't sound good.

I opened my eyes and found myself under a leafless tree, I blinked a couple of times to get my vision back into focus but it wouldn't come. I could make out the blurry shapes of Fox and Sparrow next to me with Spring sitting in front of me. A muffled noise came from his mouth and I saw two other shapes coming close to me. I could just make out that it was Viper and Coal.

Then I saw Viper push something up in front of my nose; it was my water bottle. I grasped it and took a swig feeling instantly better. I tried blinking again but not much had cleared up so I took another swig and pushed myself up into a sitting position. I could hear them talking but could digest any words, it was just like not knowing English and listening to a conversation through a soundproof wall.

I felt myself slipping into unconsciousness but I couldn't let that happen to me yet. I had to get some food into me and then I could go to sleep. An acidic smell hit my nose but I recognised it immediately as smoke and felt myself slipping even further. I widened my eyes and tried to pull myself onto my feet but I felt a hand on my shoulder. It dragged me back down to the base of the tree and I sighed with frustration. There was another mumble before Viper, Coal, Fox and Spring left with only Sparrow by my side.

I saw Bear come and sit beside me with something in her hands, she held it up to me and I took it. It was warm and soft which meant it was meat and the smell of it rose up to my nose to block out the scent of smoke. I sank my teeth into it and ripped of a chunk, not caring for how it tasted although it did still taste good. When I had finished the meat, Bear handed me a bowl with something in it.

I tried for the last time to blink back into focus but yet again it only worked very little, it barely even effected my hearing. But I could hear a few words now, which was a start. Bear was being very patient with me while I ate what I had figured out to be bush potatoes and carrots that had been roasted. She was talking slowly which made translating a lot easier.

"You… a leaf! Then…hit…head and you…on, luckily Sparrow…held you when you fell again. So…stopped here…you had seen…ghost! We…you had died but…you breathing…alright." Was all I got from her but I could put it together that I had fell then Sparrow and Fox had helped me up, I knew that part. Then they put me here probably thinking I was hungry or thirsty or something and thought I was dead because I had my eyes closed.

I nodded absent-mindedly and closed my eyes and was surprised to find that it was pitch black for the first time. No orange outline or count down, just peaceful nothingness that was all I needed to get me to sleep.


	14. Chapter 14

When I came to, it was night and the stars were shining above my head like mirror reflecting light. I turned my head to see Bear with Coal's arm around her sitting beside each other, looking up at the night sky. On my other side, I saw Viper laid out with her head on Spring's chest. He was trying to play with her hair but she kept swatting his hand away. Fox wasn't too far away and was plaiting Sparrow's long dark brown hair. Shark and Python were sitting back to back staring at the stars when I shifted myself up into a sitting position.

Bear whipped her head around and gazed at me, a smile formed on her lips and the stress disappeared from her eyes. Viper sat bolt right up and grinned at me, giving Spring a finally slap on the forehead she moved over next to me. Python turned her head in our direction and her eyes widened. She slid away from Shark who also turned around and came to join us.

For the rest of the night we sat there watching the sky slowly turned from deep blue to baby blue, then to a beautiful orange pink before going back to it's normal sky blue dotted with the occasional cloud. I felt a lot better than yesterday, I could see clearly and actually hear what everyone was saying. But there was still the mystery of why it had happened. I knew part of it was because I hadn't had anything to eat or drink and I hadn't slept a lot but I could hold out longer than that.

Suddenly, my eyes went fuzzy again just as I stood up and everything went grey. An unfamiliar voice came through the headset; it had an English accent and was male. I tried to turned around to see where it was coming from but I didn't want to let go of the tree trunk that let me know I was still in the real world.

"The two pieces of technology you have chosen both work together in an extraordinary way." The voice began, I was going to ask it a question but it continued on like a documentary.

"The headset can hack into other headsets near or far and can work with the eye pieces as well. The eyepieces allow you to hack into any place to see what is going on as well as move around like you are there using advanced technology. Unfortunately since it is all connected to thought, if you use these two actions for too long or simultaneously then it will cause the brain to go into hibernation." It answered some of my questions like why I was suddenly in the Skynet tower, why Jaguar couldn't see me and why I was so tired afterwards.

"The eye pieces also have functions that don't tire the brain like giving the person the ability to see through solid objects and identify any abnormal properties such as poisons and bullets. Since this product hasn't been completely tested there are some functions that are unknown." The voice finished the analyses and the grey disappeared to reveal the real world again, although it didn't have any more colours than the grey world did. Everyone was staring at me with signs of worry on their faces, how could I tell them about what just happened? I would have to start from the start and there would be thousands of questions fired at me so I decided to just simply play that I was recovering.

I took a deep breath and straightened up; taking my hand off the tree I brushed the dirt of my jacket and took the thunder gun from my belt. It passed around the group as a silent signal that we were going and now that I knew where we were going, we could get there faster. I closed my eyes briefly to check on the count down, we only had about twenty-two hours left to get to the tower and destroy it. There was something nagging at the back of my mind telling me not to go but I ignored it and focused on which way we were going.

We had soon left the leafless tree behind us on our way to the Skynet tower that was so close to us. I had been expecting a lot of the stronger versions of terminators to be guarding this part of the No Lands since we were so deep in but there was absolutely nothing. Not even any of the Elves (little terminators no more than thirty centimetres high that ran on two legs with in built grenade cannons and ray guns) and they infested anywhere they could get to although they just needed to be shot twice they came in waves of hundreds.

The rocks were starting to become less and less as we walked on and a metallic smell entered the air along with the scent of motor oil. I felt Python come up beside me with her hammer in her hands, her eyes were slightly clouded with fear. Conveniently she was just the person I wanted to talk to since I didn't get to ask her any questions yesterday.

"How did you come back?" I asked softly, she gave me a quick glance then shrugged. I wasn't convinced for some reason and had a feeling that I should be careful around her.

"I just remember the Hydrobot putting a blade through my neck then I went under but nothing after that. Then when I woke up, I was out here and it was like I was following a path or something. Then I found you guys again." She explained innocently, I bit my lip in thought about what she had told me and I could tell there wasn't a lot to go by. After all, she had just told me she had been out for practically half the time.

"Do you know how you got out here?" I asked her and she shrugged again, my patience was already starting to wane with her lack of knowledge about this situation. I stared at her and Python's eyes widened, she looked away for a second that back at me.

"Well last thing I remember was the sound of a helicopter but I could see one, then again I was the only person out there." She said brightly which didn't really help but at least gave me a bit more of an idea. At that moment, that was all I needed to not trust her even further especially if she didn't know what was going on. I closed my eyes to be calmed by the reappearance of the orange outline of objects. I turned my closed eyes to Python who was looking out in front of her and closed my eyes tighter.

We were still moving and I kept my eyes where no one could see them and disturb me while I was examining Python and it was a good thing too because I found what was making me so uneasy. I opened my eyes and stopped, holding up a hand to tell everyone else to stop as well. Viper and Sparrow came up to the front with a demanding expression on their faces but I ignored them and glared at Python who was staring at me with a confused look.

"Fox, ray gun, now." I demanded, Fox threw her ray gun from the back and I caught it. I aimed it at Python's arm but Viper jumped in front of me with her arms out, by now everyone had surrounded us in a circle. Coal had covered Bear's eyes but she was prying them off to see what I would do. Sparrow and Fox had turned away and Shark was staring at me with her arms crossed over her chest. Spring was hiding behind Shark and rarely peeking over her shoulder.

"What the hell are you doing?" Viper shouted, she put her arms down by her sides with one hand on a knife. I kicked her behind the knees causing her to fall then pulled the trigger, there was a shrill scream and I threw Fox back her gun. I snatched Python's arm and she whimpered but the main thing was that I was right. I had hit her bone, her bone was metal. I held it up for everyone to see, they came closer to look at the metal bone that was gleaming at us. Thankfully I hadn't detached the arm otherwise I would have the whole group after me but I didn't and wouldn't feel sorry for Python if I had.

I then noticed that Python was staring at it in shock as well as the group, I let it go and pushed my way out of the circle. That's when the nagging at the back of my mind was violently thrown forward. A memory from yesterday came out when the eyepieces hacked into the Skynet tower the specific phrase echoed in my head. 'Right on schedule'. It now made sense, Python was sent to get us to the tower so that they could kill us. Although I still didn't know what the count down was for, I didn't worry about that for now.

How? How could they bring someone back like that? I didn't get any of the science behind it, it was impossible. But it mustn't be if there was the living proof just behind me, alive and breathing. Then there was Steve who was shot in the head, I had witnessed that. I closed my eyes to see how far we were away from the end of the count down, nineteen hours left.

I know that we were close because of the clearing fog and the smell of molten metal but I then had the thought that we couldn't do it. We couldn't do this any more; we now had a mole in our group that could tell Skynet every little secret and then lead us into a death trap. We could turn back and get help from the camp back where Sage was but that would mean wasting more time that we wouldn't have.

Viper grabbed my shoulder and turned me around to face her, she looked furious. I raised my eyebrows and she balled her hand into a fist, she raised it for the punch and it came sailing to my face. I instinctively blocked it and twisted her arm around her back; she kicked my shin making me let go while she regained her footing.

"Why did you shoot her? Huh? Just because she has come out of nowhere and she has a prosthetic limb doesn't mean you have the right to treat her like the enemy! She's back now, I don't want her to die again." She said firmly, I was bent over and took a few breaths before standing up again and looking her in the eye. Then I realised that she couldn't see what I saw, she can't look through Python's skin and muscles to see her bones. Viper thinks she has a prosthetic limb, no Python is completely metal underneath and only I know it. But doesn't Python know it too? Shouldn't she, or was all that she said true that she doesn't remember anything? I looked behind Viper's shoulder where everyone was surrounding Python.

I still didn't feel bad for her, I wanted to but I couldn't. I felt that I was feeling sorry for a terminator if I did let myself so I just stepped up to Viper and held my head high.

"We are going back, we are not going any further. We're going to call for back up and wait for them to come before we continue." I hissed, Viper opened her mouth but Bear had beaten her to it.

"What do you mean? We have come this far and we have strangely gain more people than we had when we left. Plus we have Python back, what is going to go wrong?" She demanded, I glared at her and was about to start talking again when someone else spoke up.

"Yeah, what do we have to lose? We are the best of the best! Apart from you randomly shooting Python here who had just got back from wandering around for days probably, we are a force to be reckoned with." Shark agreed, I crossed my arms in front of my chest. Everyone turned around to face me including Python who looked a little scared of me at the moment.

With that, they all brushed past me and continued walking towards the tower leaving me with my mouth wide open staring at them. With a sigh of frustration, I closed my mouth, picked up my gun that I had dropped when Fox threw me hers and ran to catch up to my group that had now rebelled against me. I hung around the back where Bear and Coal were walking and didn't bother to go back up the front.

"What has gotten into you, Tigress?" She whispered to me without taking her eyes off the moving group in front of her. It was either Bear or Viper that I could possibly talk to about this and I didn't want to risk another argument so I talked to Bear.

"Look, that is not Python. Trust me! She's an imposter or something, a clone from Skynet." I spoke softly into the headset so that I didn't disturb anyone.

"No, no I don't trust you. You've been clocking out and going weird all of yesterday. I don't know how you had known about that conversation Coal and I had but that freaked me out. Then when you collapsed twice yesterday, _twice_!" She said all of that without even turning a fraction of her head around. This was one of the times that Bear could be angry with you for days on end, completely ignore you and make you feel extremely bad.

"But Bear, I have an explanation for that. I have one for all of this! You just have to listen!" I objected when Coal turned his head around and glared at me.

"I would have never done that to my friend." He commented and I stopped in my tracks, standing still while I watched them continue on. Who on earth does he think he is? He wasn't even originally a part of this group yet he has the gall to jump into a serious conversation. For the second time in less than an hour, I watched my group walk away without me.

I closed my eyes and remembered that everything was controlled by thought, I focused on the zoomed out view from yesterday. There it was, just like yesterday the view changed and started zooming out. It was going faster and I remembered how I had ended up on the ground after last time, so the quicker it was going the less time I would have to stay like this and risk passing out again.

It barely took a minute and a half to find the tower again and we hadn't even zoomed out too far. It was just in front of my general direction; at least I knew I was right in the direction department. But there seemed to be some kind of obstacle in the way, had only two directions. We could either go straight or veer off to the left that looked to be the safer way. I looked down at the count down as the camera zoomed back in; we only had eighteen hours left.

I opened my eyes and felt myself falling again; I hit the ground and shook my head. I could just faintly make out the shape of my group disappearing into the distance of the barren plain.

I jumped up and raced back to join them at the back of the group. I was just about to talk to Bear again when everyone stopped. I strode past her and up to the front where Viper and Python were staring at the two paths in front of us made by two massive valleys. I turned around to face my group and whistled sharply, it got everyone's attention.

"Alright guys, let go down the side way." I ordered but Fox stepped up and shook her head. I narrowed my eyes and pointed to the side path behind me, she shook her head again.

"How do we know that isn't a way out of here?" She questioned; I opened my mouth to object but Bear came in.

"Yeah, you could be leading us away. How can we trust you now that you just shot one of our own team mates?" I stared at her blankly; did our private conversation make absolutely no difference at all?

I threw my hands up in the air, turned on my heel and started walking down the side path. I heard them talking about something but the further I went down the less I could hear of them. Then I heard the crunch of their boots moving away, down the other valley that led straight to the Skynet towers front door.

It was when I heard a pair of feet running towards me that I turned my head around to see who it was. It was Python. I was surprised that she would be the one to be going with me especially after I shot her in the arm to prove something that no one could see. I scraped what I had thought about her being a clone or a terminator, metal bones or not she was my friend. I watched her run up to my side then slow down to match my walk.

"I knew that you were just trying to prove yourself right, and I trust you so I'm going with you." She said curtly with a weak smile, then more footsteps sounded behind me. Soon, Bear and Viper had caught up to us and had slowed down to match our walking speed as well.

"Why are you here?" I asked them as they slowed down, Bear on my other side and Viper on Python's other side. Bear gave me a side-glance while Viper gave me a full on stare.

"We are here to make sure you don't shoot Python again." Bear replied sternly.

"Yeah, and we kinda thought this might be the safer way. Walking up to the towers door just to get shot down wasn't exactly the way I wanted to go down." Viper added as we continued down the path in the valley. I was frankly very relieved that they were here with me, just these four and I know it might sound selfish but I just wanted these three with me. I didn't want to really drag Fox, Shark, Sparrow and Red Back into this.

So there we were, guns in hand and determined to blow up this tower once and for all.


	15. Chapter 15

The dust was thick in the air around us and made our vision a bit hazy. But when I looked at each of the people beside me I thought about what we could each do. Viper, the marksman and the one that had tried to prevent us from going on this journey and, in the long run, then losing Red Back. Bear, the mother who had tried to keep everyone safe even if she was only sixteen but then again we all are, she was the glue that held us together. Python, the person who kept things light and laughable but also helped me out with her hammer while trying to get away from The Mines.

They all had bits of hair splayed everywhere and dirt on their faces but they looked determined. I was proud to call these people my friends, my best friends. They were the people I had been with almost all of my time at The Zoo, meeting the others along the way were great too but nothing compared to the bond we had made between us. Viper and I had been there since we were seven years old, though she was eight and always will be one year older than me.

It wasn't until I had to be shifted when I was nine that we then didn't see each other. I came back two years later to see that she had made other friends, I almost felt left out but friends wasn't what mattered most at the time. We were going to be graduating to teen level next year and if we didn't pass, we could either be kept down or trained in one of the simpler jobs.

But later on in the year I had grown to become quite used to the others, they weren't friends but they were people I could talk to and it wasn't until next year that I had taken Bear on as a true friend. She had to be the most loyal person you could have, she could adapt to any conversation and she could relate to anyone.

But that year, we had Python introduced in the last few months of training as a new kid from a different network. She was put with me and I had to show her around to everywhere she needed to go. When it came to break in the cafeteria, I was the only person she knew so she came and sat with Viper, Bear and I along with Sparrow, Fox and Shark who had made it to our group back through the years.

From there we had made her come out of her shell and shown her a lot of different things. It has always been my duty to protect her from anything since she was still new to a few things that might take the last year of being in The Zoo to get into her. Bear and Viper have both helped out making our friendship stronger and making us what we are now.

As we slunk down the valley path, I held my thunder gun close to my chest and my finger on trigger. The walls of rock rising up on either side of us seemed to be narrowing the further we went on. I could see small flecks of metal on the ground but didn't bother to pick it up. We had somewhere to get to and we had to get there very soon. I though we might have a few hours left of the count down once we blow up the place, that is until Bear screamed holding her left arm.

"Come on, Bear. Rock couldn't pierce your skin if it tried." Viper swung around to tell Bear, just as she finished the sentence she saw Bear sitting up against the rock wall clutching her arm. I rushed to her side with Python right behind me; she opened her backpack and pulled out a wad of bandages. I started winding it around her arm with cotton wool directly on the cut; it seemed to be bleeding quite heavily.

"What did you cut yourself on?" I asked her standing up and looking around for the part of rock that harmed my friend. I saw the spike of rock dripping with red blood and gingerly put a finger on it. It wasn't rock though; it was something a little rougher but sharp enough to scrape through skin. I closed my eyes and asked my mind what it was, next to the count down a blur of pictures came then stopped on one. Rusted metal.

"Viper, come here." I said quietly, she stood up from her seat beside Bear and came to my side. I took my hand off the spike and wiped it briefly on my pants, I looked at her then at the ground where the flecks of metal were. I pointed to the spike, motioning for her to feel it and confirm that I'm not going crazy while I knelt down and ran my fingers through the dirt.

"That's is definitely not rock. What the hell is this?" Viper asked, obviously surprised by her discovery. As I brushed away the dirt in a small part of the ground I felt Viper come down and kneel beside me. It wasn't long before it was all gone to reveal a rusted metal path, I started on another small part just to prove my suspicion and I was right. I stood up with a sigh and Viper stood up too, I laid a hand on her shoulder and glanced at her.

"Well, we now know that the walls and ground is metal. But what's it for?" I asked her, she shrugged making my hand fall off and walked back to Bear's side. I blinked to check on the count down and bit my lip. Fifteen hours left.

"Guys, we need to rest. Just for an hour or two, if we're going to be doing this in the middle of the night." Python suggested, I glared at her but quickly turned away so that the others didn't see it. The thought that this was an imposter entered my head again; I had already seen it with my own eyes that she is a terminator underneath. I had a way to test it out but it would make me look crazy, then again they probably think I'm already crazy.

I watched as Viper and Python pulled out their water bottles, I went and sat next to them deciding that it was only one or two hours rest and wouldn't do much harm. It was the only question that Python, the real Python, could answer seriously.

"Hey, Python," I began, her head turned to me and a smile came across her face. "What your favourite type of cake?" I asked innocently, Python's eyes sparkled and I could see all of the different names of cakes running through her head. She opened and closed her mouth a few times like she was going to tell us. Even though I already knew what her favourite cake was, I just needed to hear it from her mouth. Then she nodded and grinned at me, I knew it had to be the one.

"The opera gateau cake with cherries…No strawberries on top!" She answered finally; I smiled warmly and threw my arms around her. This was definitely Python, no matter what. I could feel Bear and Viper staring at us but I kept hugging Python anyway. For the first time since she had come back, I believed in her.

"Anyway, back to why this is all metal." Viper started, I took myself off Python and straightened my jacket. "Bear has a theory that I reckon fits it." Viper said turning to Bear who had just finished a mouthful of water. Viper nodded and Bear wiped her mouth with the back of her hand.

"Well, maybe this use to be their mines when they were still building it. I mean they had to get all of that metal from somewhere right. So they made this then for some reason stopped using it and left it." She explained, Python and I nodded, I thought about how it must have looked when there wasn't all of this rock and dust hanging on it now.

"So somewhere at the end of this must be some kind of tunnel to the inside, yeah?" Python confirmed, in response Bear nodded. I thought about this too, if this really was a mine that had brought metal back from where ever it was they got it from then there had to be a tunnel at the end.

"But for now, we are going to rest." Ordered Viper who was already lying on her back, I sighed and laid down next to her. The sky above us was an orange red colour, like the rust on the metal spike in the wall. I just laid there thinking about how the sky has changed, all the different landscapes that we had been through in just under a week. The sky had changed from bright blue to grey when we got to the mangroves then to this strange rusty colour now. Thinking about the blue sky reminded me of the time we stole Python's doll slash figurine and hid it from her.

It seemed all so far away now, so lost and beyond repair. It was so innocent to hide it with Red Back, now we could never do that ever again with her. I thought about the house we had put her in, it would be safe enough for her to sleep in peace. She would never want to be buried, never where she can't see the sun. She wouldn't want to be burned to ashes either; she was just a bit crazy like that.

I pushed our fallen friend from my mind and closed my eyes to be met with the count down, counting away for the reason I still did not know. The orange outline almost fit in with everything else out here because of the red dust. I let myself think about what Wolf would be doing right now and everything went fuzzy.

The orange outlines disappeared and other colours started popping up. Soon all of the colours made a picture and I was standing in the meeting room when we had talked to the director before we got our mission. The table that had been bolted down to the floor had been ripped out of its frame, the chairs had been thrown around the room and wires hung loose from the broken ceiling continuing to spit out yellow sparks.

The only way I could see was from the sunlight coming through the hall from another room, but even that wasn't enough light. I carefully stepped out of the meeting room into the real horror scene. I was met with the stench of blood, to see it spattered on the wall opposite me. More wires hung down in front of my face and I had to bend in to strange positions to get around them, once I was out on the metal grated walkway I looked down below at the tech room.

The computers had been reduced to nothing but broken glass screens and split motherboards with the occasional keyboard or two with only a few keys left. I could still see some people under the rubble with massive gashes and slices in their head, arms or legs. But there was one person still sitting in a chair but it was turned the opposite way so I couldn't see it. I thought I heard a groan and ran to the stairs, I quickly made my way down the stairs and to the person.

I put my hand on his shoulder but it fell right through, I hit myself for forgetting that I wasn't actually there. I walked around to the side of his face and barely stopped myself from gagging. His face was streaked with red blood and in his lap were his two blue eyes. But sewn onto his face were two black, glossy buttons and through the minuscule space between the thread and the buttonhole you could see his empty eye socket.

His lips were drawn up and sewn onto his face in a nasty smile that would stay there forever. But you could still tell by the way his brow was creased that he was pleading for help before he died. I turned away from the terrifying person and shook my head, but no matter how much I shook I couldn't remove that picture from my mind.

I turned my back to the poor man and noticed some writing on the wall opposite me, I couldn't see it before since I was on the walkway but it was as clear as day to me then.

_You attack our fortress; we'll attack yours _was all it said and I already knew what it meant, it wouldn't take a genius to figure it out. I started to worry about Wolf and the room started to wobble, shifting in front of my eyes. It came to focus it the hanger; he was slouched up against the back wall. All around him, wings of planes had been ripped off and motors were left in pieces on the hard concrete floor.

I ran to his side and sat beside him, he was faintly breathing and had his eyes closed with a picture of Viper in his hand. I remembered the picture well, it was when he let us take the day off and we came down to the hanger. Viper had insisted that we fly one of the jets for fun, Wolf took a picture of us just before we went up. He had cut us off just leaving Viper there in his hand.

He gasped for air and opened his eyes; they went straight to the picture and a slight smile crossed his face. He turned his head so he could fully admire the picture and sighed. He still had his finger on the trigger in his other hand; he must be pretty shaken if he still has to hang on to that.

I heard something move from across the hanger, the barrel of a gun poked out of a plane wreck and aimed it for Wolf's head. He saw it and shot three times straight and true. The gun went limp and he was left alone again to stare at the picture of my best friend. I felt a tear run down my cheek and I didn't bother brushing it away since he couldn't see me.

Then everything started fading into an eerie blackness but just before I was consumed I put a comforting hand on his shoulder. I opened my mouth when he turned his head to the shoulder I put my hand on and I tried waving at him. He squinted as if he was searching for something even though he was looking right at me. Then his eyes widen as they found mine but I only saw that for a second before the blackness completely engulfed me.


	16. Chapter 16

I sat bolt right up as the bullet hit the ground about five millimetres next to my head, I saw Viper grinning at me as she gave Python back her hand gun. Python slipped back into her belt and Viper stuck out her hand to help me up. I took it and she heaved me onto my feet, I must have been the last one to wake up because everyone was already ready.

"Hey, how's your arm?" I asked Bear, she patted it lightly and nodded to say it was okay. I smiled back at her in response and turned to Viper who was staring at me strangely. I noticed that I was sweating even though I was cold and wiped it off. She kept staring at me but I just ignored her.

"We ready to go?" I asked my group, they all nodded and without a glance back we continued on to the end of this valley and the entrance to the tower. We decided that it would be safer to go in single file since we now knew the danger of the walls. I was at the head, Bear was behind me with Viper on her tail and Python at the back. We were going at a slow jog; winding around bends and watching the rock wall beside us close in more and more. We came around a bend just for us to stop. Dead-end.

That was it? A dead-end? It couldn't be, Bear's theory sounded so foolproof. I wasn't convinced that this was the end of the road, Python and Viper had managed to squeeze in beside Bear so that they could get a look at what was going on. I walked up to the bare wall of rock and ran my hand over the rough rusted metal. There had to be some kind of hidden door or tunnel, but when I found that there wasn't one I looked back at my group and shook my head.

The hope faded from their eyes as they thought about the trip back up to our other group. They were probably wondering how far ahead they were, I was still searching but when I failed yet again I felt so bad for us. We had wasted so much time just to come to a dead end. I kicked the ground beneath my feet and dropped.

I was screaming but I had enough sense in me to look back above my head, it was a trapdoor! This must have been what they used to get the metal through; they dumped it down here. I barely saw Viper throw herself in when I hit something hard; I felt smooth metal beneath my fingers and begun sliding. I had stopped screaming just in case anyone could hear me but I was barely holding it as the speed I was sliding at started to increase. I suddenly slammed into a corner and kept sliding with a new bruise in my arm.

I tried to slow myself down by sticking my arms out to rub against the sides of the chute; it was working until Viper bowled me over. I landed straight onto me belly with Viper just behind me laughing like a maniac. I stuck my arms out in front of me just as another corner came; I pushed off from the corner and kept going. I could hear the sound of Viper hitting the wall just behind me before continuing on.

"Enjoying the ride?" I asked sarcastically, I tried to turn my head around to face her but it was far too awkward. She was starting to go absolutely crazy, spinning around and laughing hysterically.

"Why so serious?" She countered once she had stopped laughing, I felt her grab my ankles like she was driving a car. Another corner was coming up; I pushed off it with Viper right behind me. She bumped into the wall, which made me do the same before speeding of down the chute again. I heard a faint scream and remembered Bear and Python who must be coming down soon.

I saw dim light flowing in the further we went down, slowly getting brighter. We started going down a steep slope, I instinctively put my hands down on the chute floor to slow us down but because they were still so sweaty it didn't make any difference. It was getting lighter, but something cut through the light that made me catch its attention. It was a split in the path, I heard Viper gasp behind me as she saw what was coming up in front of us. More specifically me.

"Which way?" I screamed as we came closer and closer to the split, I heard nothing for a second, two seconds, three seconds then I felt Viper lift one of her hands off one of my ankles. I rolled my eyes, I thought she knew that I couldn't see her pointing and that she would have to tell me but no, she points anyway.

"Mate, I can't see you!" I reminded her, I mentally face palmed myself as we continued to speed towards this intersection that was getting dangerously close to splitting my head like a watermelon. I felt her grab my ankle again and steer me down the right chute. The intersection passed us by and the slope started to flatten out to a gentle slope. Then there was Bear and Python to worry about, I turned my headset on and focused on Bear and Python.

"Guys, there's and intersection near the end, alright? Go down the right chute if possible. If you can't then that's just going to waste time, so try to go down the right chute." I ordered, I was finally able to sit up in a normal position when Viper let go of my ankles. I waited for a response, when there was nothing I looked over to Viper with a worried expression. Then the headset crackled and I heard Bear and Python came through.

"Yep, copy that." Came Bear's answered which was followed by a bang further up the chute.

"Alright then…" Came Python's unsure answer, there was a yelp heard up in the chute but I knew she was all right. I turned off the headset and turned to face the front. My stomach lurched as we started dropping once again, I barely had time to scream before I hit the ground right on my back. I was just about to sit up when Viper came and landed right on top of me. Considering being winded once when I landed on my back, I had absolutely no air left in me when Viper came down. Viper pulled herself off me and I took big gulps of air.

"A wild Viper appeared!" I exclaimed when I had my breath back; Viper hauled me onto my feet and steadied me.

"She used the move Flatten!" She joined in, I smiled at her.

"It was super effective!" I commented, she playfully punched me in the arm right where me bruise was from the first corner. I flinched but when she looked at me with concern I just brushed it off. I looked around at the landscape; the chute came out of a rock wall and emptied onto a pile of metal scraps that had been melted down so that they weren't sharp. Directly opposite that rock wall was the tower, I hadn't noticed it before but it had glowing orange lights around parts of it to make it look like something from Tron. Just before that was a massive dirt patch, about a kilometre from the tower itself.

I was just about to start walking when I heard a shrill scream and Python dropped onto me. Viper must have jumped out of the way because she was laughing her head off.

"A wild Python appeared!" She giggled; I looked up at Python who was sitting on my back looking around dazed. I cleared my throat and she peered down at me, she bit her lip and was just about to get off when Bear dropped on us. By now, Viper was in stitches from laughing. She was rolling on the ground with tears streaming down her face.

"Alright this is just not fair!" I objected, Bear picked herself and Python up off me and I caught my breath for the second time. I shakily brought myself to my feet and stumbled off the metal pile. Python and Bear were both looking at Viper with confusion; I walked over to the laughing mess and kicked her lightly.

"Tigress fighting status: K O!" She stood up on shaking legs with her hand to her head. I felt like slapping her right then and there, she obviously had no idea what it felt like to have your insides squished and every bit of air squeezed out of you at the same time. I strode past her and stared at the tower in front of me, I could already see the orange sky was darkening.

Bear and Python came up to my sides with Viper on Bear's other side, we looked at each other and we began walking. Even at the slightest sound we would aim our gun at the noise, we kept our eyes open for camera's and moved silently across the final stretch to our destination. I closed my eyes to check on the time, we had a little over ten hours. Our chances of making it before the count down ended were become even slimmer by the minute.

I had put away my thunder gun and started looking around with my bow since it would be a lot more useful in that kind of terrain. Viper had her Sniper Rifle out and was constantly turning around to look behind us. Bear had her trusty AK 47 out and Python gripped her massive hammer tightly.

It was barely half an hour until we reached the tower's base, when Bear spotted it. She went off, skipping and giggling like a little girl to a little crevice in the base. It looked more like a cave than any kind of room that I had ever seen. We followed her in there to find a massive hoard of explosives, every kind that you could get. There were stun grenades, scemtex or stick grenades, the little RCXD or remote control car that can blow up and even the big C4 explosives. It was just what we needed to burn this place to the ground.

With a silent agreement passed amongst each other, we grabbed as many explosives as possible. Bear got the C4, Viper got the claymore and Python and I got the scemtex. Because I thought it was a good idea at the time, I grabbed a little RCXD just in case we needed anything blown up that might sacrifice on of us.

With our backpacks moderately heavier than before we came in here, we left for an entrance to the tower. The sky had begun to gain a slight shadow in it signifying that night was not far away. With my bow still in hand, I led the group around the base and closed my eyes. I focused on asking the question of where the closest entrance was, as usual the orange outline disappeared and the camera flipped up like when it was finding the tower. Except this time, it was like the roof had been cut off to reveal walls and doors, rooms and even computers on the inside of the tower but only on the first floor.

I opened my eyes and headed for the entrance I had found; I put my finger to my lips before continuing though because we had to be very quiet. We slunk around the base to the hole in the wall that I had found. I poked my head inside the hole to be surprised by flashing lights, there were shadows that we could use to slip through but it would be next to impossible.

I took my head out and turned my group who was waiting with eagre expressions, I could tell that they were all excited about our mission finally coming into play. I stepped aside to let Viper look; she almost shoved me out of the way to get a look. She brought her head back out with a big grin plastered on her face.

"This is going to be like Mission Impossible! It's going to be great!" She said in a hushed voice, Python and Bear's eyes lit up as they looked at each other then back at Viper.

"We're going to have to stick to the shadows though and there aren't many of those. Just stay hidden, basically." She continued in her surprisingly quiet voice, she wasn't usually this quiet. Then within the space of a blink she was gone, I watched as Python and Bear went in after her. Then with a final glance at the dimming sky I went in after them.

I had to flatten myself up against the wall to stay with the shadows, following silently behind my friends. I saw what the flashing lights were; they were a repair crew fixing up the hole that we had just come through. And as the put up brick after brick to patch up the wall, I knew that there was no turning back now.

We reached the door out into a corridor that was lined with the same orange lights from outside. We came together and slowly started making our way down the corridor. Side by side yet again, nothing could stand in our way. There were different doors that we passed but we didn't need to pay any attention to the doors, we didn't need to make ourselves known.

"Time for me to show my ninja-ness." I heard Python say to herself, I shook my head and took the lead. The corridor opened up into a big room with control panels everywhere and people rushing around. There were lab coats on a rack next to us, I took one and gave the group a brief glance for them to follow my lead. The lab coat was big enough to hide all of my guns but a had to put my backpack on the outside otherwise I would look too suspicious.

"Alright, we need to disappeared. Split but keep each other in sight, we meet at the door to the north." I whispered in my headset before I descended down the stairs and into the mass of rushing people. I turned to walk around the room but out of the corner of my eye I could see, Viper drop into the other lab coats then Python followed becoming almost invisible. Bear then slipped in and we were gone.

I could only just see them moving around, and I knew they could see me too. Now it was just a matter of time before this place was ash.


	17. Chapter 17

I was glad that we could blend in so well, considering that we had our backpacks sticking out. But most of the other people there had these backpacks as well, which was a relief. I wound my way around a few small desks with clipboards and papers on them. I briefly looked at it and passed on, but backtracked when I saw Python's name on there. It had her real name; not her code name and I automatically picked it up. While there was so much buzz, I stuffed it into my pocket and swiftly walked to the exit. There, Python and Bear were waiting for me.

"Hey where's Viper?" Asked Python who was tapping her foot impatiently on the concrete floor. I shrugged as Viper came bounding towards us, a look of mischief printed on her face. I didn't bother to ask knowing that I would find out later and took off my lad coat, folded it and put it into my backpack. We slipped down the small hallway and up the staircase when we came to a landing. It went in two directions, one had another staircase but the other had a hall with more doors.

"I reckon we should go down the right one." Suggested Viper, I turned around to look at her just as Bear and Python did.

"Why the right one?" Asked Bear, obviously confused. An exasperated sigh came from Viper's mouth as she begun to explain.

"Well, we chose the right chute, right?" We all nodded in agreement.

"Which must mean that the right hall is the right one, makes sense?" Python and I nodded our heads but Bear shook hers.

"How do you know? It could be reverse psychology that the right hall is wrong and the left hall is right." Bear objected, I looked back at Viper who had considered it for a moment.

"Yes, but this could be the reverse of reverse psychology meaning that the right hall is meant to be wrong and the left hall is meant to be right but the right hall is actually right and the left hall is actually wrong, right?" I just nodded blankly not being able to keep up with how many wrongs, rights and lefts there were in the conversation. Viper smiled as we followed her up the staircase, while Bear was left confused like Python and I were.

The stairs wound on and on and I thought we would be trapped in a spiral of never ending stairs until we came out to the landing. This was definitely where we were meant to be, we had come out into open air on a walkway, the metal grate walkway. I instantly remembered Jaguar using these kinds and a thrill went through my spine. Now we just needed to find where the others were.

I closed my eyes and focused on finding where the other part of us had gone, the camera view tipped up and the roof fell away to reveal all the rooms in the tower. It started zooming out but didn't get far until it reached a group of five dots in a narrow room, which looked a bit like a hallway. The camera moved up the hall to a blue tinged part and pictures started buzzing at the bottom of my eyes just above the count down. Then it stopped at some blueprints; it highlighted separate parts of it and watched in horror as it played what was going to happen.

It demonstrated with a dummy what was going to happen to my friends, and even that didn't look too good. First they were going to step on a trigger which released a thick gas into the air. Because only the walls could help them they went to the walls then without knowing flicked a switch. The switch made the floor from under them give way into a pit of spikes, so they could die slowly.

I opened my eyes and looked up to see Bear, it was then that I had noticed she had caught me. She had concern in her eyes as she lifted me back to my feet but I didn't care about myself, I needed to save my friends. I took of down the walkway with my startled team behind me and burst into the tower the walkway was connecting to. Since there was no one in there, I flew through it and onto another metal walkway.

I pulled myself up just as I came to the next tower and slid inside. There was a whole work team of scientists running around about twenty computers and I recognised the room. I stuck to the unlimited amount of shadows and saw a staircase just behind a big screen at the back of the room. I silently snuck towards it just as a firm hand grasped my shoulder.

"What the hell is going on?" Bear whispered in my ear, I turned to her with urgency and she took her hand off me. I couldn't bother to tell her right now, I quickly clambered down the stairs to where there was a platform with a set of stairs down the end of it to my right. There was a door way to a hall and I knew this was where they were. Exactly where my other team was. I ran towards it then stopped just to hear an alarm go off halfway down, I heard a surprised shout and something squirting.

Out the doorway I could see purple gas started flowing out then I started running again, I shaking my head willing them not to go to the walls. Then I heard a strong voice and knew it was Shark.

"Go to the walls! Stay together!" She ordered, I pushed myself on just as I heard everyone moving. I was so close now that I could hear their heavy breathing but too far away to get to them. Then I heard Fox's voice, full of surprise.

"Hey, there's a switch here!" Then the click of the switch, with one final effort I sprinted to the stairs and gripped onto the railing. The rumbling of the floor giving out then the screams filled my ears.

"No! Fox!" I screamed, I was just about to fly down the stairs but I felt Viper and Python hold me there. It didn't stop me from screaming at them to move though, no I screamed louder. Then the rumbling stopped and a single scream could be heard, high and shrill.

"No, Fox! Please!" I shouted then struggled free of my friend's grip, I jumped down the stairs and took off to the doorway. The purple mist was clearing as I reached the doorway and then the screaming stopped. There was silence but someone was still talking, the faint and shimmering shapes of my team stood there but one was kneeling down. It was the small figure of Sparrow.

She was rocking back and forth, looking into the pit after her best friend. I could just see her mouth moving and as the rest of the mist cleared I saw the look of despair on everyone's faces. I knelt down and peeked into the pit, sure enough there was my friend Fox who felt guilty for killing her friend only to go and join her. I could see her blood spilling from the spikes that she had landed on, her limbs in all awkward positions.

I stood up and stared across the pit, it would be just a short jump over but I didn't know if I could do it. I had just killed my friend; I could have saved her by not stopping and choking up. I could have saved my friend the pain, the horrible pain, but yelling out not to throw the switch. But no, I had to be weak and stop right before she went in.

I saw Shark kneel beside Sparrow and whisper something to her; Sparrow looked at her in terror then back at the pit. She started shaking her head and her talking got even louder. With a sympathetic look, Spring jumped over the gap to our side. Then Coal came over, but he jumped short. His hands gripped the edge as his foot slipped, the pit of spikes threatening to kill him too. Bear rushed to the edge and grabbed his wrists, I was there too and we pulled him up together.

Shark sighed and leaped over to us, her eyes were clouded and distant. Then there was Sparrow, still staring into the pit. I held out my arms for her but she didn't budge, when there was nothing from her I jumped over and sat next to her. I leaned in close to hear what she was saying.

"I could have saved her…" She whispered, she kept repeating in while she was staring into the pit and rocking back and forth. I couldn't stay here in my frame of mind, so I picked her up and that's when it happened. She went on a full on rampage, screaming, thrashing, kicking, and swearing even but everything she could do just to get out of my arms. Before I lost grip, I saw Viper and Bear holding their arms out and I threw her over.

I leaped back over and sat up against the wall, gazing out the doorway as Viper, Python and Bear tried to calm Sparrow down. They now knew that we were here, we were known in the tower and that was just going to make our job a bit harder. The wails coming from Sparrow started to die down and turn into soft whimpers. She started talking and I tuned my ears into what they were saying.

"So, what happened?" I heard Bear ask softly, Sparrow swallowed and took a deep breath.

"The floor, um the floor started to give way. Fox, was just hanging off the switch when she, um, she looked over to me. I stuck out my hand and I, um, I…" She looked away and I turned my head to look at her.

"I caught her, then I started slipping but I was pulling her back up." She sounded almost hopeful that what she was saying would continue on to something good, but I knew it wouldn't.

"Then, she…She said that she's going to let go so that I don't fall. I, I… I was pulling her back up and she let go." Sparrow finished, I bit my lip and turned back to the doorway. People were rushing around, but it seemed to be with a lot more purpose, a lot more urgency.

I stood up and went over to our reunited group; they all turned to look at me even Sparrow. I stood there looking over everyone, arms crossed over my chest and my head up high. With a final nod, I uncrossed my arms and glanced over Spring's shoulder at the pit.

"Right, we have had Red Back and now Fox that won't come home. We now must do this for them, for those two that didn't make it this far. We must do this for them, not for the network that sent us on the death wish of a mission." I said, Viper's eyes lit up and she came to stand beside me.

"I agree, we are going to keep going and get this son of a bitch out of our country. Aren't we?" She shouted raising her fist, there was a half hearted 'yes' passed around us. Viper stamped her foot hard on the ground and we erupted in a flow of cheers and encouragement. We flipped out our guns, grenades and knives, preparing for anything that was going to hit us.

We marched out the doorway and back up the stairs to the platform then back up the second set of stairs to be met with a hoard of shocked scientists staring at us. I aimed my thunder gun and fired causing a shock wave to come out of the gun, knocking over all of the scientists. From there we ran out on to a new metal walkway to the room that had the round table and big screen in the back. The room that I saw Jaguar threaten Steve in.

I skidded to a stop to see two different doors, one must lead onto another open walkway, and the other was unknown. I heard a small cry come from the back of the group and one by one we turned to see what was going on. I went up to the back to see properly and gasped. On the walkway on the other side of the computer room was an army of terminator, square broad shoulders and shining heads coming for us. Python took the lead, running to the unknown door and grabbing the handle.

Everyone followed as she pulled the door open and leaped in, I stayed where I was with someone beside me. Viper was staying with me, I shook my head when she pulled out her sniper and aimed. Two shots went into two terminators heads and they fell to the ground. Then they started pouring out of the computer room, headed straight for us.

I noticed a little notch on my thunder gun; I pulled it to the furthest notch towards me and aimed up. Viper kept shooting down androids but it was barely making a dent, I pulled the trigger and was almost blown back by a massive shock wave coming out of the barrel. It was even enough to make the first few rows shatter and the rest of them land on their backs.

It was time, I grabbed Viper's wrist and we ran for the door. Python slammed it shut behind us and we all stood there staring at one another for a few seconds before I bothered to get a look at our surroundings. I took out my hair band and brushed all of my hair back, collecting all of the strands that had come loose of the last few days. Once it was back into its normal ponytail, I stretched and looked around.

It was like something out of a video game, a kind of boss level or something. The walls connected up to a high ceiling that had the glowing orange lights on it showering the room in its eerie light. We were standing on a small platform that went on to stairs that went onto a bigger platform, leading onto more stairs then a bigger platform then stairs and the floor. It took me a few minutes to help me realise what was going on, I couldn't see the floor.

My breath caught in my throat and I felt everyone look around the room, taking in what was going on. I felt myself falling and this time, no one caught me, I fell to a crumpled heap just staring at the room. I couldn't see the floor because all I could see were endless lines of terminators looking up at me. On the far wall was a set of stairs leading up to a platform with a railing and two people on it. Jaguar and Steve.

This was where we were going to die, we were now going to die, we can't possibly come back from this. And she is going to be watching. Tears were welling up in my eyes as I heard the shocked gasps from behind me. I heard Python try the door but when she tried turning the knob there was the sound of a struggle and she gave up. One of the people up on the platform started moving, down the stairs and towards us. It was the slender shape of Jaguar. Weaving her way through her mechanical army, she climbed the steps to where we were.

"My dear creation, how are you?" She cooed to Python, I stood up beside Python and put one hand on one of my knives. I heard Bear draw hers from her bear skin pouch while the teeth on Sharks shark tooth bracelet knocked together. Python's earrings reflected the dim light in the room making the python eyes look alive.

"I don't know what you're talking about…" Python muttered, backing into me then looking up at me. I crossed my arms in front of my chest then glared at Jaguar who was eyeing Python like a cute fluffy bunny she wants to eat.

"Have you not discovered yet, oh how unfortunate." Jaguar said with sarcasm, it was then that I noticed what she was wearing. Keeping to her utterly crazy look I was finding it very hard not at think about how she found all of this cloth to make these clothes.

Her spade eye patch with diamonds was the same and sparkling more than ever, but she was now wearing something a bit more on the formal side. She had a sleek black dress on with one long sleeve and the other side sleeveless. The dress came down just past her knees but one side of it had been pinned up with a bow so it came up to halfway up her thigh. Her black hair had a black bow on the side of it and she wore her normal boots. A silver belt that locked into place on her side held her pistol that looked as if it had been specially polished for today.

"I though that this would give it away!" Jaguar said, snatching Python's arm and showing us the hole in her arm where the metal bone was glinting at us. Then I closed my eyes tightly just to be reminded that this was a traitor, not a friend. I had let my guard down and let her lead us here.

"What are you talking about? This is just a normal person." Viper said, preparing her gun. I remembered the piece of paper in my pocket and fished it out. I unfolded it and read through it. It was all about Python, her birthday, her likes and dislikes and the network she worked at. Everything. Then there were her instructions, it said that she was a strictly search and recover android that was a prototype. Her goal was to get all of us here so that we could be killed. I pushed the piece of paper into Viper chest and she took it from me.

"Ah, I though one of you might find it. Yes, take a look at your dear friend and my science experiment." Viper started passing the piece of paper around to everyone but I just kept glaring at Jaguar. I remembered my test, the question about cake I had asked her and she took it so seriously. No one could ever care more about cake than this kid could, but how could they do this? I put my hand on Python's shoulder and tilted my chin up. When the piece of paper came back to me, I put it back in me pocket and bit my lip.

"You still don't believe me? Watch this." Jaguar spat, she took out her pistol and just as I ducked the trigger was pulled. When the sound stopped echoing in my ears, I stood up and looked at my friend's face.


	18. Chapter 18

Part of her face had been blow off, but there was no blood and she looked more ashamed than hurt. Beneath her eye was the red one of a terminator, then part of her face was shiny metal. She ran her fingers over her left cheek where the metal was and flinched when she was met with her new smooth metal bone. I put my hand under chin and directed her to look at me, she avoided my eyes as I examined her face. Half of it was the horrifying face of a killer but the other half was the scared and embarrassed face of one of my closest friends.

Jaguar started giggling, that giggle turned into a hysterical laugh that made everyone stare at her. It didn't stop until she was back at the platform but we had stopped paying attention to her long ago. Python turned around so that she could show everyone her face, when she did she didn't get to many good responses.

"But, I thought I could trust you." Came Sparrow's feeble voice as she pushed forward.

"So, Tigress was right all along?" I heard Spring ask, then I saw Coal's head nod as an answer.

"I defended you for something that you knew was wrong?" Viper asked sourly, I knew how much she hated being wrong. Python shook her head and it was my turn for me to stand up for her.

"No, she didn't know it. You heard her answer back in the mine. Only Python could answer something like that." I objected, Viper though about it then turned to the group. She nodded her head to agree and I felt the mood change from anger to confusion.

"So what do we do now?" I heard Coal ask, I glanced behind me at the army that could come alive at the flick of a switch.

"What else are we going to do? We're going to fight. We're going to blow up this place and never have to see it again." Shark said, loud and clear so that she wasn't just speaking to him but to everyone. Just as she finished her sentence there was a metallic scrapping sound behind me and I turned around. The red in the terminators eyes started lighting up and they started moving. Slow and stiff at first but then becoming more flexible.

Everyone prepared their guns and knives as the terminators heads all slowly turned to us. We froze, ready in our positions and alert for any movement. Bear had her AK 47 pointed at anything she could see that was red and glowing, Shark had her rocket launcher aimed and loaded. Sparrow had a throwing knife in each hand, Coal had a shotgun at the ready and Spring had Fox's ray gun akimbo. Python had her hammer in one hand and her Cylinder & Slide M2006 in the other hand. Then there was Viper with her legendary UTG L96 AWP Sniper rifle, reloaded and pointing at any suspecting androids that are prepared to leap.

I noticed that the stronger ones were to the back of the room with machine guns built into them so I made a mental note to be careful around them. Then there was one bullet fired, coming from Jaguar's pistol and the bloodbath begun.

Shark set off her rocket launcher, a rocket zoom towards the first row and we ran. Bullets sprayed everywhere, Viper ran off to the side to go and get a perch whereas Sparrow was already slicing off heads with her razor sharp knives. I ran beside Python who was already shooting at the androids. I turned on my headset just as I jumped into the massive twisting heap of metal and bullets.

"Guys, stay in pairs just keep together, okay?" I screamed before I was cut off by metal fingers scrapping my skin. I aimed my thunder gun and pulled the trigger, flinging a few androids across the room to smash into the wall whilst knocking a few over. I flipped out a knife and slid under the feet of the army to Python, while I was still down I slashed the back of a terminators knees. He fell backwards and sliced off his head, watching briefly as his eyes faded to black. Holding my thunder gun in one hand and getting back up, just as Python ducked a punch I pulled the trigger sending a massive shock wave over her head. She jumped back up and shot her attacker, I turned around and threw one knife to a terminators head then jumped on its chest, pulled out the knife and split its head fully.

I laid down on my stomach and listened to Python shooting the ones in front of me before pushing myself up and grabbing Python's hand. She spun me in front of her then I stopped on her other side, sent a shock wave to the next on coming terminators. She ducked and I flipped over her back, pushing my gun into her hand whilst taking hers out of the other. She stood up and turned to her blindside, I went to her back and started shooting. I saw Shark starting to have some trouble about twenty metres away and nudged Python, I motioned my head towards Shark and she nodded.

We gave each other our guns back and off I went, I slipped unnoticed up to Shark's side and begun fighting again. Her rocket launcher had already run out of rockets and she had moved on to her AK 74, and boy was it a big gun. I blasted a whole row of them back just as they started shooting at us and Shark finished them off.

I caught Viper in the corner of my eye turn briefly to shoot at Jaguar but a shimmering transparent orange ball appeared around her and the bullet didn't make it to her. Then I thought just as I blew away a terminator on Shark's back that all of this fighting will have to eventually wear us down. We couldn't keep fighting this hard forever.

I put in another canister and let the empty one drop out and on to the floor, I kicked it in front of a terminator and when it looked down to see what it was, I cut off its head from the back of its neck. I crouched down as Shark leaped over my head and sent out a spray of bullets taking down another few rows. I turned around and shot a shock wave at the androids behind Shark; with a strong hand she pulled me up and shot two terminators over my shoulder.

Then I heard beating, metal hitting metal and looked over the silver heads to the door. That's where it was coming from. And if we didn't get this over with soon, we would have an even bigger problem on our hands. Soon this would have to over whelm us, and we would fall.

I shook my head as the thought entered and sliced another terminators head off as it came for me. I saw Viper had disappeared from her perch and shot down another row of terminators. I threw two knives past Shark's face and slid under her legs to the android I threw them to. I tugged them out of the body and sliced off its arm just to be sure it won't harm us.

Python bumped into my back just after slamming her hammer into five terminators. I gave her a wink and she smiled at me, I looked out over the fight and saw Bear by herself. As Python brought down her hammer on an unsuspecting terminator, I jumped on the flat part and as she pulled it up it gave me the boost I needed to go sailing through the air towards Bear. I landed right next to her and shot a shock wave to the oncoming army behind her.

She turned around, shot two over my head and smiled at me. She had her knife out and she was using it as well as her gun. There was a click as she loaded another magazine into it and the empty one fell to the ground. I turned behind me and blasted away a few more rows before turning back to Bear. She kicked the magazine up with the toe of her boot; it went over her head then she kicked it up with her heel. Just as it came over her eyes, she shot it and it shattered. While the robots were confused, she shot down a whole row and I took her back.

"Hey Tigress," Bear started, I ducked and she flipped over my back to my left side. She flipped out her knife and it embedded itself in a terminators eye. I dodged past her as we switched sides, pulled out the knife and sliced of half its head. I threw the knife behind me and heard it slip back into Bear's bear skin pocket.

"Some one needs to get up there otherwise we're going to wear down and eventually get killed." She commented, catching her breath for a second before sliding out her knife and slashing another head of a terminators shoulders. I saw something moving through the crowd of metal body near the steps of the beating door. I automatically knew who it was, Viper. She was going in for the kill, she was going to go right up to Jaguar and kill her. I could feel Bear looking at me as she took out the terminators behind me and her voice came through the headset again.

"You need a lift over there?" She asked with a sparkle in her eyes, I knew what she wanted to do. I nodded and I climbed up onto her shoulders, gaining my balance she started spinning. She held down the trigger of her gun, sending out a cyclone of bullets around her but not harming either of us. As soon as she stopped I jumped, leaping onto the heads of my enemy. Then I started running, it was difficult at first but I got the hang of keeping my balance on a moving floor. In my wake, I could see eyes looking up as I stepped on their heads and arms out and grabbing for me.

I dropped next to Viper, she swung around with her gun ready but noticed it was me and relaxed. She tilted her head slightly and ducked, I shot a shock wave over her back and she jumped back up. My eyes flicked to the platform where Jaguar was standing sneering down at us then back to her. She shrugged and off we went, I was blowing shock waves left, right and centre while Viper took out androids near and far. I noticed that Sparrow had retreated back to Python and Shark while Coal and Spring were working with Bear to stay alive.

As we pushed on, I noticed that we were getting closer to the machine gun androids at the back and a sense of urgency filled me. I saw a small red button right next to my thumb on the gun and pressed it, hoping it would help us in someway. The sound of air hissed in my ears and it started to get louder. Viper whipped her head around and her eyes went wide, she ducked as I directed it towards the robots that were blocking our way and pulled the trigger.

Three gigantic shock waves burst out of it, completely tearing apart the first three rows and knocking back the rest of them. You could literally see all three shock waves come out of the barrel and disperse amongst the terminators. This gave us a clear path to the stairs and we took it, we sprinted to the base of the stairs then Viper stopped me.

"You need to get home, you're the leader. I'll go and get her for ya." She said with a smile and before I could argue she started climbing. I looked back behind me and saw a few of the terminators getting up but when I pulled the trigger the empty canister dropped onto the floor with a bang. I loaded the last canister into my gun and pressed the red button again, I knew it was going to completely break the canister and gun if I used again because of how powerful it was but I knew where I could put it.

I looked over the railing of the steps and saw my target, backing up the steps a bit I got a clear view. I threw it as hard as I could towards the machine gun androids and flipped out my bow and a blunt arrow. I closed one of my eyes and the targeting system appeared again. It zoomed in on the little red button and I let go of my arrow, I watched it press the button and then yelled a heads up into my headset.

I ducked down as the whole gun exploded into silver shock waves breaking the whole five row army of machine guns like china breaking on the ground. Wires and parts of metal shrapnel flew everywhere and I uncurled from my position. I started making my way up the stairs but constantly keeping me eye on the fight still happening below me. I started sniping out terminators that were overwhelming either of my groups and just shooting them in general.

The targeting system was really helping me, picking out different groups the had too much to handle and telling me about strays. Soon I had made it half way up the stairs when I heard a shrill scream from where Python, Shark and Sparrow were. I checked over everyone then saw a part of skin missing on Python's arm showing even more of her metal skeleton. Sparrow was just behind her cowering at the sound of the shot, I saw her look up at Python in surprise then continue fighting. Python had saved Sparrow.

I breathed a sigh of relief and heard the sound of metal on metal again; I had been surprised by a hoard of terminators coming up the stairs after me. I took out an arrow with a glowing red tip, an explosive arrow I had learned from when we were running from The Mines, and strung it up. I let it go and it landed square on the terminators chest, when it exploded it knocked him back forcing him to take down his pals behind him.

I ran up the rest of the way to be surprised what was on the platform. Viper was standing closest to me while Jaguar was directly opposite her with her sneer still fresh on her face. They didn't notice me as I popped up so I stayed quiet. I was surprised that neither of them had killed each other yet. I gave a side-glance to Steve who looked absolutely terrified. Since the platform was up against a wall, Jaguar had built a control panel for the army she had down there. Her sneer twisted into a sick smile and I slunk back down to where she couldn't see me.

"Is this what you want?" She asked Viper sweeping her arm around at the devastation below. Viper just narrowed her eyes and shook her head. Jaguar, looking satisfied, walked up to Viper's side and giggled.

"You couldn't live through this if you tried." Her bright green eye flashed and a shiver passed down my spine. She strode back to her position in front of Viper and looked away. Then she pulled out her pistol and leaped out of my hiding spot. She aimed it straight and true and before Viper and I knew what was going she pulled the trigger.

My instincts kicked in and I stretched myself in front of my friend, and collected the bullet.


	19. Chapter 19

My hand stung as I hit the metal ground, Jaguar tossed the pistol aside and pulled the hidden knife out of her boot. She threw it square at Viper's head; I reached up and caught it. I laid down on my stomach and listened to the three shots echo off the walls. Steve, who was still in the corner ran over to the control panel and pressed a small green button. I close my eyes and remembered the count down, two hours left. I dropped the knife and gazed up at Viper who was still standing with her gun pointed at Jaguar. I listened to the sound of the terminators hitting the ground below me and all of those who were coming up the stairs after me. Then I looked at my hand, or lack of. It was lucky that I was shot in the hand and no where like the heart or the stomach. But I would be of no use at all now, I had no hand apart from my pinkie finger hanging off a piece of skin but what could that do.

I begun to sit up but the pressure on my hand was at first like it had pins sticking into it then moved straight into an immense pain. I lifted my stump up to my face and then noticed that I also had part of my arm missing. I saw flashes of bone and smelled burning flesh, I thought about the kind of bullet that came out of that thing. I turned my head to look at Jaguar who was still faintly breathing. With my left hand that was still intact, I dragged myself over to her side and slumped up against the railing next to her. I saw her eyes move over to me, then to my hand and a smile crossed her face.

"How could you possibly think that you could win? You could never." I whispered in her ear, she shifted to see me clearer meaning I could see her clearer as well. Blood was running down her forehead and I could clearly see the three bullets embedded in her, crushed against her skull.

"What do you mean? Of course I could have won! It was all there, they made the calculations and we had the strongest weapons." She rasped, I could smell the blood on her breath because of how close she was. It was beginning to stain her teeth red.

"It wasn't about the calculations, or the weapons. It was about the gut feeling of it all. What you decided to do in the moment, not before." Was the last thing I said to her before she flipped out her knife. She sliced my in the side before Viper delivered another shot to her temple. But just before the light faded from her bright green eye, she looked over my shoulder to Steve who was staring down at her with disgust.

"Forgive me…" Were the two words on her last breath, the she fell limply onto my lap. The sticky blood from her forehead started running off her and onto my legs but I couldn't care less. Just then, the rest of the group came clambering up the stairs and that's when I finally realised all of the injuries I had picked up. Gashes, bruises, cuts, aches and even a bleeding mouth, how could I have just picked this all up just now? What did it matter, I was probably going to die anyway so what was the point in noticing. I raised my head slightly and gave them a weak smile, I gave them a wave with my missing hand and, even though it was unintentional, made Python start screaming.

Bear came up to my side, not bothering to move the fallen villain on my lap, and took my bloody arm. She examined it and nodded at me, although when she looked back at the group and nodded I seriously doubted that I would be okay when my pinkie then fell off. I saw Sparrow cover her mouth and turn away, Spring went stiff and even Shark looked as white as a sheet. With my other hand, I took out Jaguar's pistol and pointed it at my head. I closed my eyes and placed my finger on the trigger, just as I was about to squeeze it I felt someone take it off me.

I opened my eyes and glared at Bear who had the pistol in her belt now. She shook her head at me and waved Viper to my side. She slung her rifle back behind her and knelt be my side. From there I closed my eyes and let them carry me. I was swimming in and out of consciousness as they carried me but I still do remember each individual time.

First time I came back was just after they had gotten me out of the massive glowing room. I heard the door scrape behind us but opened my eyes to look around. Everyone was smiling down at me, Shark, Python, Viper, Bear, Sparrow poking her head through a gap and even Spring and Coal. Then I spied another face amongst us, it was Steve. Then I closed my eyes and tuned into what they were saying, it was a bit hard to hear at first but I made it out.

"There has to be a hanger here somewhere. The always is for an escape." Said Viper in a matter of fact tone of voice, it made me chuckle on the inside. Then I heard Bear speak up.

"Well, we can't rely on Tigress any more. She always got us everywhere." She commented, and for the first time during the whole mission I felt needed. Then there was the husky voice of Steve.

"I know where the hanger is, but first we need to set up as many explosives as possible. We only have two hours until the invasion begins, so we need to get out of here before then." He reported urgently, Python crossed her arms and sat on her hip with a look of disbelief on her face.

"How do we know you aren't leading us into another death trap? Why can't you just shut off the invasion?" Python questioned, I could sense the tension in the air and it was growing every second.

"I can't shut it off because there is an encryption code in it that only the leader of this tower knows and you have killed her!" He answered, I heard Python take a breath to tell him what for but it never came because of when Coal interrupted.

"Guys, we don't have time to argue. We need to trust what Steve is saying if we want to get out alive." His strong voice echoed off the walls and back to my ears, there was mumbling then the shuffle of feet and I was out again.

The second time was when we were running through the tower with red flashing lights and wailing sirens all around us. I was being shaken like a rag doll then there was a shrill shriek from behind me. I felt myself being set down and I slowly opened my eyes. I was no longer being carried, and I was staring at a massive screen. Suddenly codes begun to run through my eyes and the massive screen buzzed to life, flicking through files at a million miles an hour. Then when it was done, I closed my eyes and dropped out again.

The third time was when we were out in the open air again, the sky was now completely black with storm clouds and the sirens were still wailing behind us. I felt myself on a hard surface. I opened my eyes and propped myself up one my one good elbow and looked around. I knew that I was in a fighter jet by the smell of the petrol but it was far too big to be something like that. Actually no, there was a seat behind me and then there was another one behind that seat then the pilots seat up the front. Then I recognised what plane it was; it was a SR 71 Blackbird. I thought that they had all retired an even then there were only thirty-two of these made. Twelve of them then were demolished because of accidents leaving twenty of them left ever.

I started to twist my head around when I started moving, there was a surprised cry from behind me and a hand wrapped around my neck. Not to strangle me, just to grab on so that I wouldn't keep sliding. I felt it pull me back up and into the seat and a safety belt come around me. I turned my head fully around to see Python climb into the seat behind me. The glass covering our heads gave me a clear view of the tower; red lights still flashed on the inside.

I saw Steve with Shark on the outside of the plane waving to us. Coal had an arm wrapped around Bear as they got into another plane, it looked to be a F 22 Raptor but normally only one person could fit into it. Then we took off, my head hit the back of the seat and I was out again.

The last time I came out of consciousness just to drop back in was when I heard a big explosion behind us. I opened my eyes and looked out through the glass, the tower had been engulfed in flames and I could just hear the faint rumble of all of the towers crumbling to the ground. I smiled then looked up to the pilot seat where Viper was; I could see beads of sweat appearing on her forehead. Then she violently turned right and started shooting. I could see that she was shooting at some jets but I didn't know why. She pulled away and dipped, I felt my stomach come up in my mouth. She did a barrel roll, banked left then came back up and she was behind the jet.

Two shots and it was down, she said something into her headset then paused. She then turned to her right and kept it steady, then two jets flew straight in front of her followed closely by a big black one. Viper went chasing after the black one while the two it was chasing split and went separate ways. The black jet started to chase one of them then went vertical, Viper being the person she was followed. Then she pulled out and watched the jet continue going straight up, then it cut off its engines and started falling. Viper took it out and zoomed away, she shouted something into her headset and I saw four jets appear behind us.

Then out of the corner of my eye, I saw lights below us. Red and green flashing ones, along an airstrip. We were finally home; we had made it back. Well, most of us. I looked back behind me and then remembered that I heard the explosions just a few seconds ago. What did it matter? We were home. As Viper slowed for the landing I went out like a light.

Then my eyes came back into focus; I sat up in the meeting room and looked around. Viper sat next to me smiling with her feet up on the table and her arms behind her head, I shook her head and she smiled at me. I swung around and took in the room, it was meant to be a wreck with wires hanging down and the ceiling prepared to give way under us. My glass of water sat in front of me, untouched. The director slammed the door behind him and Wolf came up to the head of the table.

Wolf smiled and winked at Viper then looked out over the rest of the table, then it hit me. This was happening again, I was back in the meeting before he gave us the assignment. I looked back at Viper, careless and free, then remember how fiercely she fought and how she was prepared to give up her life for me. Did that mean that the whole Skynet thing was just a dream? Did I just fall asleep in the meeting to dream up all of that?

I looked down at my hand and there it was, all there. I moved it around then jumped when I felt Viper tap me on the shoulder. She snickered then motion with her head to the door. I nodded, stood up and followed her out then didn't know whether to scream or sigh in relief. The clean and well-ordered meeting room behind me dissolved to its normal rampaged status. The space in front of me was even worse, the walls had been painted with blood and peoples body parts laid everywhere. I looked over to Viper but she had gone.

Instead Jaguar stood in her place, the three bullets in her head and the one in her temple still stayed there. I looked myself down and I was my normal, battered self. Hand missing; blood flowing from my mouth, cuts and bruises up and down my arms and legs and the massive slice in my side. Jaguar stepped up to me and started circling me, a smile growing on her tanned face.

"You will do perfectly! I will make you my little doll." I shiver passed up my spine as she came to stop in front of me. She pulled out a thread and needle, I started backing up but she was coming towards me. Then she pulled out two black, glossy buttons and a body dropped between us. It was a girl younger than I was with her eyes on her lap and buttons sewn where her eyes should be. I took this opportunity to run, I turned and scrambled down the stairs into the ruined tech room below.

I landed in a puddle of blood but that didn't stop me from running, I ran to the elevator on the far side of the room and pressed the button. I glanced over my shoulder and watched her rip the stairs out of their bolts. I turned back to the elevator and pressed the button a few more times. I looked in the reflection of elevators door and saw her walking towards me, pushing past all of the broken equipment. I whipped around to see her getting closer, I started slamming the button but it was too late. She pushed me up against the door then shoved me to the floor.

I watched her put away the needle then replace it with a dagger, long and thin. She didn't just have two buttons in her hands; she had at least twenty of the big shiny things in her hand. Then she started giggling again.

"You know what? You deserve the special treatment for burning my kingdom to the ground." She cooed, I shuddered as she brought the dagger close to my heart. I tried to kick it out of her hand but she had a strong grip on it, I felt the tip touching my chest and pierce through my clothes. The cold blade was then driven into me and I let out a scream I had been holding since the first time I had seen her. I didn't care who came; I just never wanted to see her again. She twisted the blade around then started cutting. Like I was a meal to her, she sliced away at my skin in the perfect shape of a heart.

I couldn't help but keep screaming, it felt like something out of a horror movie to just watch alone. It felt far worse. The blood started spilling and I stopped screaming to catch my breath, then she pulled the dagger out and the part of my chest she had cut fell to the floor. It was in the shape of a heart, I personally didn't know how I was still alive let alone watching this. The next thing she did made my insides jump.

She reached inside my chest and started scrounging around for something, then she grabbed my heart. I wanted to just die, stop watching and die, but I somehow couldn't almost like she wouldn't let me. I watched her cut it out and bring it out of me, now limp in her hands. Then she threw in the button in her other hand into my chest; she finally grabbed my piece of chest and stuck it back into place. When I was just about to move again, she held up a finger telling me to wait. She pulled out her needle and thread again and that's when I started screaming again.

As she put the needle through my skin I screamed even louder, but I also felt something tugging at me and I didn't hesitate to go to it. Death was calling me.


	20. Chapter 20

I sat up screaming in the hospital bed, but I didn't see a hospital bed. I saw a shelf; I was a lifeless doll with buttons for a heart. Sewn up and placed on a wooden shelf, I was nothing. Two people came running towards me, buttons for eyes and lips drawn up and sewn into a smile. They laid me back down but I didn't stop screaming, one of them brought out a needle and poked it into my arm. I started thrashing around to get the needle out but it was held firm then taken out. I closed my eyes and kept screaming, the orange out line around the object I saw wasn't the same as when I had my eyes open. It was of a hospital room, not a shelf.

Then I opened my eyes and my vision was changing between the shelf and the hospital room. Then seven other people ran into the room and my vision fully changed to the hospital room. It was the gang. Viper, worried and overjoyed was smiling down at me. Bear, had excitement bursting in her grin. Python breathed a sigh of relief that I was okay. Sparrow, jumping up and down was her usual bubbly self. Shark, arms crossed and giving me approving nods. Spring, strangely holding my hand and smiling politely. Coal, looking down at me with concern but relief was evident as well.

All of the people that had done the final stretch with me, even the two boys we had picked up along the way had become good friends. The Spring patted my hand and something clicked, he was patting my right hand. The hand that I'm not meant to have any more. I sat up and slid my hand out from his everyone smiled at me as I held it up it my face. It definitely wasn't normal, it hand pads on the bottom of it like a cats. Then I saw claws slide out from my nails, this definitely wasn't a normal hand.

"They couldn't find a normal hand for you so they used the next best thing and kinda modified it." Viper explained looking at me examining my new hand. She was right to start off with, it definitely wasn't human. Then Python started talking.

"We think it defines you, you now have something that suits your name." I looked up at her and smiled. A paw for my arm? It could be worse. I saw someone standing in the doorway of my room, smiling at me.

"Alright guys, I need to speak with the little trooper here." Came Wolf's voice from the doorway. Everyone groaned and said their goodbyes to me while filing out into the hallway. When we were alone he came in and sat on the side my bed. He smiled but I didn't smiled back.

"You still haven't told her have you?" I asked him quietly, he looked confused for a second then rolled his eyes and shook his head.

"I'm not here to talk about that. I'm here to say thank you for what you have done for this network and this Division. Also to say I'm sorry I put you through it, I mean it must be hard to lose the people that you had." He mumbled, now it was my turn to roll my eyes. He had no idea about what had happen to us, this will give me nightmares for the rest of my life. I saw the regret in his eyes and showed him my new hand. He nodded and turned away, obviously disgusted by his decision to send me on this mission.

"Look, I must ask something else of you as well…" He begun quietly but he then just shook his head and left. I closed my eyes and decided to get some sleep if I possibly could. Then the codes reappeared, buzzing through my eyes and then the files but this time much slower. I didn't bother to shoo them away so I started reading through them.

It was about a project call Deck of Cards, the first person it had was our very own Jaguar. Her whole file was very interesting, I found out that she was an orphan just like us but she went to an orphanage in France. Guess who was there? Her bag boy Steve went there as well and when the machines came they set it alight. They had escaped and somehow come to The Zoo, then I found something that surprised me greatly. Steve was Wolf's brother; somehow he had gotten over to France when he was young and forgot about Steve over there.

I moved on from Steve onto the actual project, then gasped. The Deck of Cards project was about setting up fur different towers in four different countries to try and get the best of the world to fall. All networks around the globe are currently hunting the leader, also called the Blackjack. I kept reading around a bit then fell asleep thinking about what we might have gotten ourselves into.

**Three weeks later**

I ran around the corner and jumped into the elevator with Python's doll clutched to my chest. Viper was there waiting for me and she pressed the button for our floor, just as Python came skidding around the corner the doors slammed shut and off we went. We sat there on the floor laughing until the elevator stopped at our floor. We pulled each other up and were just about to step out when we saw Shark glaring at us, she took the doll off us and streaked off down the hall.

Viper and I looked at each other then started chasing after her; we reached her and came up on either side of her. We started bumping her around when she threw it in front of her where Sparrow was waiting. I hooked a claw around the dolls arm and intercepted it. I stopped and started running the other way when I crashed into Spring who had crash tackled me to the floor. I tossed the doll up in the air and I saw Viper catch it and race off with Sparrow and Coal close behind her.

I pushed Spring off me in his attempts to keep me down and started off again. I saw Bear run straight past me with the doll in her hands and Python right behind her. I tripped Python and she landed straight on Spring, then I sprinted up to Bear's side and collected the doll. I kept running to the end of the hall then ran into Wolf who was carrying files. He huffed in frustration and I helped him clean up, as I helped him I couldn't notice a file that had a familiar title. _Operation Blackjack._

As we stood up and he pushed past me, I didn't even see Python sneak under me and snatch the doll up. But I didn't care about that for now, because I knew what that file contained. It will be sending us on another hell trip and some of us won't come back yet again. We will be traumatised yet again, go mad or worse start to kill each other off. I brushed off my knees and jogged to where there was now a fight starting to break out.

I couldn't think about something like that for now, I already have nightmares every night because of the first mission. So for now I will focus on what was at hand and that, right now, was making sure Python didn't break her nose.


End file.
